<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Chasing You by HatchetNoseGelphie</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24497095">Chasing You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HatchetNoseGelphie/pseuds/HatchetNoseGelphie'>HatchetNoseGelphie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Wynonna Earp (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alcohol, F/F, Gangs, Groupies, Rock Band AU, Sorry Not Sorry, band on tour, because theres lesbians, but ofc wayhaught is endgame, did I mention lesbians, fuck that it's definitely slowburn, idk im not good at writing tags, oh this is an afterthought but this is probably slowburn, oh yeah nicole is a dumbass lesbian, waverly will be dating champ at first, waverlys a dumbass lesbian too but she doesn't know it yet, wynhaught brotp of course</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:22:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>53,062</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24497095</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HatchetNoseGelphie/pseuds/HatchetNoseGelphie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Four months ago, Peacemaker had pretty much been an unknown band. No one had heard of them. And then, (and keep in mind that Nicole’s knowledge was a bit lacking) all of a sudden, everyone had heard of them. It was damn near impossible to take a single step outside without being bombarded by people fangirling over this member or that member. Every store in the entire country sold out of fake ammo belts, silver bangles, and leather boots (the choice accessories of the singer, Wynonna Earp) within a day.</p><p>One day, it was normal, and the next, it was like the world had been taken over by Peacemaker. Nicole remembered wondering whether she had woken up in an alternate universe that day. Maybe even Hell.</p><p>But what's a girl to do when a gorgeous guitarist asks you to join in?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Waverly Earp &amp; Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp &amp; Nicole Haught</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>138</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>364</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Rock Bottom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Let it be known to all concerned that Nicole Rayleigh Haught was most decidedly <em>not</em> the type of person to follow every trend that the world became obsessed with. She was not the girl that would scream and leap over every fad or show or band that shone in the limelight. She didn’t spend hundreds of dollars on merchandise. She didn’t lose her shit over the infinitesimal chance to see the band or actors in person.</p><p>No.</p><p>Nicole was a sharpshooter. She knew what she wanted in life, and she was absolutely not going to let anything stand in her way.</p><p>Even a couple of failed classes.</p><p>She sighed, running a hand through her long auburn hair as she waited for the bus to arrive at the right stop on campus. Okay, so, maybe she didn’t like learning in a classroom. Maybe she wasn’t very good at it. So what? She was still smart and quick on her feet.</p><p>Part of her sincerely hoped that the meeting her advisor had called with her at nine-thirty in the morning on the Saturday before finals week wasn’t about her failed classes, but a writhing knot in the pit of her stomach was enough to weaken those hopes.</p><p>Any other girl, when faced with the possibility of failing college, might be more concerned about what Rich Daddy or Mommy might think, but all Nicole could worry about was whether it would affect her chance of getting into the police academy.</p><p>Her money was on ‘yes’.</p><p>The campus bus arrived at the stop on Heather Street – not far from where the advisor building was located – and Nicole was, of course, too wrapped up in her own mind and nearly missed it.</p><p>“Oh, uh, here! Me!” she stumbled over her words as the bus driver shifted the vehicle into drive again. “Sorry…”</p><p>
  <em>Real smooth…</em>
</p><p>Fortunately, he let her off. She didn’t know <em>what</em> she’d do if she was late for her advisor meeting. Even though she was, in fact, half an hour early.</p><p>She was anxious, lay off!</p><p>She decided to sit in a nearby diner and drown her worries in coffee whilst she waited for the appointed meeting time.</p><p>The world was pretty much a blur as Nicole entered the diner and quietly ordered a cappuccino from the barista. She then went to the only empty booth, and no sooner had she sat down than pressed her forehead to the table and let out a small groan.</p><p>“Rough morning?”</p><p>In all honesty, Nicole just wanted to be left alone, but she had raised herself with better manners than to ignore someone talking to her.</p><p>“The rough part’s not even for another thirty minutes,” she grumbled into the table.</p><p>“I’m sorry to hear that. Would you mind if I sat? Everywhere else is full.”</p><p>Nicole lifted her head and gestured half-assedly towards the other side of the booth before deciding she should actually get a good look at who it is she was inviting to share her table.</p><p>The moment her eyes landed on the tanned, gorgeous face, she felt her heart abruptly stop beating in her chest. The girl was stunning. No. Stunning didn’t quite do justice. Breathtaking. Amazing. Radiant. Divine. Uh… That’s about all she had, but nothing seemed to quite encapsulate the beauty that took the seat across from her.</p><p>“Uh… Hi,” she managed, desperately trying to keep her mouth from dropping open. “I’m, uh, Haught. Er – Nicole. I’m Nicole. You’re hot. Shit, not… Not <em>hot</em>, I meant… I just mean… I…”</p><p>
  <em>See, this is why you failed English.</em>
</p><p>The woman giggled, giving Nicole a smile that made her feel like she had just lit up the entire world, all on her own. “It’s a pleasure, Nicole.”</p><p>“I… haven’t seen you around. Are you new here?”</p><p>“Hm? Oh, yes, I’m just kind of passing through. I’ve never been to Tucson before, so I decided to try to see as much as I could of it before leaving in a couple of days. Not that I’m eager to leave or anything. I’m just on a schedule, you know. Pretty tight… I’m Waverly, by the way.”</p><p>Nicole smirked and shook her head. “There’s not a whole ton to see, really. The University of Arizona being maybe the last thing you should visit.”</p><p>“Do you go?” Waverly asked, the smile never leaving her lips.</p><p>“Uh, yeah. Though for how much longer, I’m not sure…” <em>Stupid Nicole. Tell the most gorgeous woman you’ve ever seen that you’re not smart enough for college. That’s a real turn-on.</em></p><p>“I’m sorry,” Waverly said earnestly (or, at least, it sounded earnest). “My sister never took to college, either. It’s not something to be ashamed of.”</p><p>Nicole met her warm brown eyes with confusion – confusion as to why this beautiful stranger was cheering her up, much less talking to her at all. She found herself unable to come up with a response that wasn’t in some way laced with innuendo over what else she wasn’t ashamed of.</p><p>
  <em>Get your head out of the gutter, you useless no-good lesbian. She’s being nice to you. Be nice.</em>
</p><p>She cleared her throat. “Have I seen you before? I can’t help but think that you look really familiar.”</p><p>At that, Waverly’s smile did falter, but only for a moment before she recovered it. “Well, I’ve never been to Tucson before,” she repeated rather than completely dismiss the idea. It wasn’t lost on Nicole.</p><p>After all, future upholders of the law (or aspirers) needed to be able to read into everything a person said or did.</p><p>Before she could say anything about it, or use her better judgment not to call the ray of sunshine out on it, the barista walked up with two to-go cups. She placed one in front of Nicole without so much as a glance at her, and then the other before Waverly.</p><p>“Your latte, Miss Earp,” she practically purred before sashaying away.</p><p>And, of course, that’s when everything clicked into place.</p><p>Earp. Waverly Earp. Guitarist of the band Peacemaker – the most famous band in the world, as of that moment. Maybe Nicole wasn’t into anything mainstream, but she didn’t live under a rock, and it occurred to her that she was talking to one of the most popular girls in America.</p><p>Four months ago, Peacemaker had pretty much been an unknown band. No one had heard of them. And then, (and keep in mind that Nicole’s knowledge was a bit lacking) all of a sudden, <em>everyone</em> had heard of them. It was damn near impossible to take a single step outside without being bombarded by people fangirling over this member or that member. Every store in the entire country sold out of fake ammo belts, silver bangles, and leather boots (the choice accessories of the lead singer, Wynonna Earp) within a day.</p><p>One day, it was normal, and the next, it was like the world had been taken over by Peacemaker. Nicole remembered wondering whether she had woken up in an alternate universe that day. Maybe even Hell.</p><p>“Waverly Earp,” she whispered as the famed guitarist met her eyes with a guilty smile.</p><p>“Sorry.”</p><p>Nicole shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I hate to break it to you, but I’m not some devoted fan that’s going to hang off of your every word.” <em>Even if you are the most radiant creature to ever grace God’s green earth.</em></p><p>“I-I didn’t ask you to be,” Waverly sounded almost hurt. “I just wanted to talk to you. I actually thought it was kind of refreshing to not, you know, be overwhelmed or asked for an autograph.”</p><p>Now, Nicole had a very low opinion of popular band members, mostly because a lot of them were heavy drug users who treated their fans like shit. Waverly had seemed quite sweet, yeah, but deep down, Nicole knew that she had to be no different than anyone else in her position.</p><p>“Tough shit,” she rolled her eyes, more annoyed with herself than anything else. “Aren’t you guys supposed to, like, revel in the attention or something?”</p><p>“My sister does, but I don’t really care so much about that… What happened? I thought we were talking. I was enjoying talking to you, Nicole. Did you not like talking to me?”</p><p>Nicole ran a hand over her face. “That’s not it, Waverly. I did – I do. I just… I can’t get involved in something like this right now. A-and it’s time for my appointment with my advisor. I have to go. I’m sorry…”</p><p>Without another word, she got up and practically fled the diner, unaware that she had left her wallet sitting on the table.</p><p><em>A sharpshooter</em>. That’s what it took.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“The issue, Miss Haught, has nothing to do with your basketball playing. In fact, you’re a valuable asset to the university’s team. The committee just wonders how dedicated you are to it, and judging by your choice of major and your GPA, they’re not convinced.”</p><p>Nicole wringed her hands in her lap anxiously as she tried to formulate a reply. “I-I understand, Mrs. Harris, but I <em>am</em> dedicated.”</p><p>“You’re a criminal justice major, and the only classes you seem capable of passing are the ones pertaining to it. I’m sorry, Miss Haught, but you’re only at this school on a basketball scholarship, and there’s plenty of other basketball players out there that would love to have this scholarship and actually pursue a career in basketball. The committee plans to revoke it for the fall semester.”</p><p>Of course, her worst fear was coming true. Nicole let out a groan and ran a hand through her hair, messing it up slightly. “I need this degree, Mrs. Harris,” she pleaded.</p><p>The kindly older woman gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, Miss Haught. Have you thought about options other than university? Many well-paying jobs don’t require training at all, or even a trade school’s training, which is vastly different than university. Plumbers get paid quite highly.”</p><p>Nicole opened her mouth to reply, but she suddenly felt so helpless. She shook her head and stood up, gathered what little things she had, and marched out of the room with as much dignity as she could muster – which was not a lot.</p><p>All of her life, she had only wanted to be one thing – a cop. While she knew that a degree wasn’t strictly required for joining the police academy, she wanted one because she wanted to be top of her class there. She wanted to join while knowing a lot that some of the other recruits didn’t know because they hadn’t taken the time or money to get a degree. She wanted to be the best damn cop there’d been in a while. Most of all, though, she wanted to help people. People like the high school kids that fell in with the wrong crowd, or the girl who went missing her freshman year, or even people like her own parents.</p><p>But she had failed. She was a failure, through and through. She didn’t even remember taking a sharp left into the building’s public restroom. She just glared at herself in the mirror, willing the tears back.</p><p>She was Nicole Haught, goddammit. She didn’t cry. She didn’t show people how she really felt. There was no time for that. But perhaps she’d fail at that, too, today.</p><p>
  <em>Get it together, Haught…</em>
</p><p>She furiously wiped at her eyes to banish any tears that may have formed. Once she had gathered herself and felt at least somewhat confident in being seen again, she stalked out of the bathroom and out of the advisor building, barely paying attention to where she was going.</p><p>Which was how she nearly bowled over the famed rockstar that she had met, not even an hour ago.</p><p>“Oops, sorry! My bad,” Waverly squeaked as she picked up the purse she’d dropped, even though they both knew that it was technically Nicole’s fault.</p><p>Usually, Nicole was a pretty nice person, but she was too pissed at herself right now to even think about the fact that she was faced with a sweet woman with the face of a goddess. “What is it this time, Earp?” she sighed, running a hand through her hair.</p><p>Waverly bit her lip and took a step back. “It didn’t go well, did it?”</p><p>“No. What do you want?”</p><p>“To give you your wallet back. You, uh, you left it in the diner.”</p><p>Nicole glanced down at the proffered wallet and shook her head. “How stupid of me.” She took it and quickly rifled through it, noticing the fact that everything seemed to be in its right place at a glance. “You know, most celebrities probably would have taken the cash.”</p><p>“Yeah, my sister would’ve. I’m not really ‘most celebrities’, though… I’m just a girl who likes the guitar,” Waverly shrugged.</p><p>If Nicole were in her right mind, she might tell the beauty in front of her that she was so much more than that, she might even flirt with her. Not on purpose, of course – Nicole was a terrible flirt. Had been since high school. She was such a sucker for a pretty face.</p><p>She wasn’t in her right mind, though, so she just took the wallet and left without another word.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>All it took was collapsing into her bed in her dorm room, trying to forget about it all, for Nicole to feel bad about how she treated Waverly. She had to admit that, as far as famous people went, Waverly wasn’t half bad.</p><p>And, of course, there was that weird, fluttering thing that happened in her stomach every time Waverly smiled. In spite of the fact that she was incredibly unattainable, Nicole couldn’t keep her mind off of her.</p><p>Waverly was only trying to help.</p><p>And Nicole had just been a complete asshole to her.</p><p>She groaned, burying her face in her pillow. She didn’t know what came over her – there was a perfectly sweet young woman in front of her, trying to help, and Nicole just directed her frustrations at herself onto her. That’s not what good police officers did, she reminded herself.</p><p>Unfortunately, she didn’t think she’d ever stumble into the celebrity again. Waverly had mentioned leaving Tucson soon. In fact, she was probably just in town for the couple of concerts that Peacemaker was playing – all of which were sold out, not that Nicole would have wanted to go to them anyway. So… to make a really long-winded deliberation short, there was no chance Nicole would have the chance to apologize for how she behaved.</p><p>A meow interrupted her thoughts, and she glanced towards Calamity Jane right as she hopped onto her bed. Nicole had fought tooth and nail to keep her cat in her dorm, mostly because there was nowhere else Calamity could stay.</p><p>Her university just happened to be leisurely enough to allow it with a big ass fee. One that Nicole had worked many hours to afford.</p><p>“What did I do, Calamity?” she grumbled miserably. “An angel walked up to me today, and I practically spit in her face, that’s what I did. And now there’s no way to say I’m sorry.”</p><p>As if knowing something she didn’t, Calamity Jane walked over and sniffed the wallet that had been thrown haphazardly by her pillow. Nicole sat up slowly, grabbing the wallet and beginning to rifle through it again to get a more accurate assessment that nothing was amiss.</p><p>Except something was.</p><p>Well, not missing. Nothing was missing, as far as she could tell. But something was certainly amiss.</p><p>Nicole didn’t remember purchasing two backstage passes to Peacemaker’s concert tomorrow night, but then, there they were, sitting innocently behind her debit card. She took them out and blinked a couple times.</p><p>“You’ve gotta be shitting me…”</p><p>She turned them over, finding a single word written on the back of one of them.</p><p>
  <em>Come?</em>
</p><p>That’s all it said. Nicole clenched her jaw and stared up at the ceiling. Tomorrow was Sunday. She had finals on Monday – she knew she had finals on Monday. Yet… Some unexplainable thing within herself also knew that there was no way in hell she’d miss seeing Waverly Earp again.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Whatcha got there, baby girl?”</p><p>Waverly glanced up at her older sister, slung over the back of the couch and trying to get a glimpse of what was in her hands. She debated hiding the picture, maybe shoving it in between the couch cushions. She knew that if she showed it to Wynonna, there was no taking it back.</p><p>Her decision was made for her when Wynonna grabbed it out of her hands. She held it up in front of her face with a quizzical expression. “You know this girl, Waves, or are you just printing out pictures of pretty redheads from the internet?”</p><p>“Her name is Nicole. I met her at a coffee shop today.”</p><p>“And you have a picture of her holding a trophy. Do you need help hiding her body or something?”</p><p>Waverly rolled her eyes and snatched the picture back. “No, I didn’t kill her. She accidentally left her wallet.”</p><p>“And you took a picture. I’m so proud of you. How much cash did you get?”</p><p>“Nothing – none. I didn’t take her money.”</p><p>“Wow. No longer proud,” Wynonna sighed. She hopped over the back of the couch and landed halfway on top of her younger sister.</p><p>“Look at the trophy, Wynonna,” Waverly insisted, shoving the picture back into her face. “It’s from some kind of percussion competition I think. She placed highest, or whatever they call it.”</p><p>“So? What does that mean?”</p><p>Waverly tapped the sweet, smiling face in the photo. The girl herself had acted somewhat like a jerk to her, but she had a hard time believing that the one who snapped at her was the same as the one proudly holding her trophy in the picture. “It <em>means</em> that she can hold a rhythm. She can keep a beat. She whoops ass on the drums.”</p><p>Immediately, all curiosity on Wynonna’s face disappeared and was replaced with anger. “We don’t need a new drummer, Waves,” she muttered.</p><p>“Yes, we do,” Waverly insisted. “We can’t keep playing songs without the beat. Halfway through the concert, we’ve pretty much exhausted every song that we can get away with me tapping my foot loudly into a mic and cranking my amp up to hide the fact that we’re missing our drummer. It just doesn’t work. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be the kind of band that only sounds good on a recording.”</p><p>Wynonna sighed and ran a hand over her face, as if the very notion of hiring a new drummer was a life-or-death decision to make. It very well might’ve been, just not for any of them. Not for anyone who still had a say in anything. It felt scandalous, talking about replacing <em>her</em>. The more stubborn part of Wynonna (which, in reality, was most of her), argued that they absolutely couldn’t replace her, under any circumstances.</p><p>However, the more reasonable part – small and feeble it may be – knew that Waverly was right. That she didn’t want to lose the small taste of fame they’d acquired, and if they didn’t do something to fix the hole in Peacemaker quick, it’d be gone. No one wanted to pay hundreds of dollars to see a band that sounded incomplete.</p><p>“Fuck you…” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.</p><p>“Just meet her. I invited her to the show tomorrow. Gave her tickets. Just meet her.”</p><p>
  <em>And hopefully, for both of their sakes, Nicole will be in a bit better of a mood…</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Shoutout to my beta reader and the current biggest supporter of this fic, Mvphoenix!</p><p>I'm really thinking I'm gonna keep going with this fic, guys, but I need your help. I need y'all to give me feedback. This is my first Wayhaught (or Wynonna Earp in general) fic. If you guys want me to continue, leave some kudos or a comment below!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Tiny, Cute Guitarist</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>See, when Nicole retired to her bed on Saturday evening, she was absolutely certain that she would <em>not</em> be attending a concert for the most popular band in the country the following night. When she woke up Sunday morning, her resolve had not wavered whatsoever.</p><p>It was sort of ironic that Waverly had slipped two tickets into her wallet, as if she was inviting Nicole to bring a plus-one. As if she thought that Nicole had the ability to actually have friends. It wasn’t that Nicole didn’t have ability to <em>make</em> friends, it was that she didn’t have the ability to retain them. She never thought herself to be the most interesting person around. A sharpshooter never was.</p><p>She spent most of the day studying for her finals – not that it really mattered anyway, considering she wouldn’t be at U of A come fall. Lunch and dinner both came and passed, and she held onto her steely determination not to go to the concert that she had tickets for.</p><p>Why would she go, anyway? To apologize to a celebrity that she’d likely never see again? A celebrity who hardly even knew her name? Nicole didn’t like celebrities. She had told herself that many times over the years. She liked music, yeah, but not people who thought they were better than everyone else just because they had some talent.</p><p>A small voice in the back of her head argued that Waverly Earp didn’t seem like she fit that stereotype. What was it that she had said? <em>I’m just a girl who likes the guitar.</em></p><p>How fucking cute was that?</p><p>No matter how many times she’d told herself that she would not be attending the concert, she still found herself standing in front of her full-body mirror about an hour prior to its start time, trying to figure out whether her outfit was suitable for a concert.</p><p>Having never been to one herself, she had no way of knowing.</p><p>She adjusted her unbuttoned red plaid flannel and the black tank underneath. Was this acceptable? She suddenly felt self-conscious. What would Waverly think about it? Should she show a bit more skin?</p><p>
  <em>Stop it.</em>
</p><p>Just because the aforementioned celebrity was literally an angel in broad daylight, it didn’t mean that Nicole would have any sort of chance with her – and it certainly didn’t mean that it was a good idea to try to get her attention. Which it wasn’t.</p><p>She was probably straight anyway. Not everyone was gayer than the fourth of July, Nicole reminded herself.</p><p>Nicole was an incredibly confident person. Going through high school, there were plenty of girls who developed massive crushes on her (and boys, she’d recall with a shudder). She never scoffed at anyone or anything, and she got very good at rejecting people lightly and leaving on good terms with them. She knew that she was beautiful, and never before had she ever had any sort of insecurity about it.</p><p>Until now. Until she met Waverly Earp, the single most breathtaking person she’d ever seen (and, mind you, she’d watched enough television to have seen several gorgeous actresses). She’d only talked to the girl for a few minutes, but Nicole was sure that no one deserved Waverly Earp.</p><p>Especially not her, after being such a jerk.</p><p>She wiped her hands on her thighs, once again considering changing. Eventually, she decided she wasn’t going to get anywhere by stressing about it, so she’d just take what she’d thrown on – ripped jeans and all – and go.</p><p>The bus ride to the stadium was a blur, but once she was there, Nicole found herself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people present. She knew that Peacemaker was huge, but… She was fairly certain half of the state of Arizona was standing in line to get in.</p><p>“Fucking shit…” she muttered under her breath, halfway annoyed with herself for coming in the first place. And, although she’d never admit it, halfway knowing that she couldn’t say no to Waverly Earp.</p><p>As she advanced in the line, she fingered the ticket that had been written on. She studied the curvy, beautiful four letters followed by perhaps the most beautiful question mark she’d ever seen. <em>That’s not creepy…</em> She shook her head to clear those thoughts, but she found her gaze continuously drifting back to Waverly’s writing.</p><p>When it came time for her to turn the ticket in, she hesitated. At the last minute, she switched it out for the extra, which didn’t have writing on it, and slipped the written-on ticket into her back pocket. The collector gave her a brief, quizzical look, but didn’t comment on it and simply waved her past.</p><p>Nicole had never really been a fan of crowds, so when the ushers guided her towards the floor section – the portion without any seats, of course – she almost made a run for it. Tiny, cute guitarist or no. Nothing was worth standing in the midst of a crowd for the next several hours.</p><p>Except for maybe those soft, gentle eyes.</p><p>Suppressing a groan, Nicole stepped into the mass of people, tightening her jaw as she was quickly swallowed by bodies.</p><p>The opening band was a local one that didn’t have much fame. Nicole had read online that Peacemaker didn’t have a band touring with them as their opener. The one that was opening in Tucson wasn’t bad. They weren’t the best, mind, but they weren’t bad. Or maybe Nicole just wasn’t picky.</p><p>In between the opening band and the entrance of Peacemaker, a man next to Nicole nearly fell on top of her. He reeked heavily of weed. “Want a drag, sweetheart?” he drawled as he offered a joint out to her.</p><p>“No, thank you,” she denied as politely as she could through clenched teeth.</p><p>“C’mon, sweetheart. You’re so tense. Loosen up a little, will you?”</p><p>She nimbly sidestepped him, bumping into someone else. The squirming mass of people quickly separated her from him and she let out a small breath of relief. Fucking creeps. Was that the kind of person that came to these things? Leered at sweet little Waverly Earp?</p><p>She looked around, trying to gauge everyone else, but the lights were too low and people were moving too much to put her mind at any sort of ease. She tried to take in deep breaths to calm her racing heart, but it was difficult with so much <em>body</em> and so little <em>air</em> around her.</p><p>Snippets of conversations were everywhere, pretty much floating in thin air. ”God, Wynonna Earp can fuck me in an alleyway.” “If she spat in my face, I’d probably say thank you.” “Do you think I can get her to sign my ass?” “Y’know, I wish I had two dicks. One for each sister.” “If either of them just looks at me, I swear, I’ll die happy.”</p><p>Nicole didn’t know whether to be amused, confused, or concerned. The Peacemaker fans – Earpers, she thought they were called – were so fucking obsessed. Was this normal? Did every band have fans that wished they would fuck them in an alleyway or sign their ass? She was still debating running and leaving the whole thing behind.</p><p>And then the stage lights shifted.</p><p>All of the noise and chatter that had previously filled the theater like buzzing ceased at once. Nicole held her breath, feeling adrenaline pump through her veins at the pure excitement radiating from the crowd around her. Her eyes were glued to the stage, watching as smoke rolled out, covering every inch of it in the golden lights.</p><p>Suddenly, the lights went out. There were a couple of screams of anticipation, and when the lights returned, there was a figure standing on the stage.</p><p>A figure that very well may have been Waverly Earp, but for the life of her, Nicole could barely recognize the gentle girl she’d met before in the figure standing with her eyes closed, a dangerous smirk on her face, and both hands extended in front of her, prominently displaying her middle fingers.</p><p>Her eyes opened, and the crowd screamed, chanting Waverly’s name.</p><p>She was wearing a white crop top and high-waisted black leggings. There were gloves on her hands connected to lacy black sleeves going up just past her elbows. A little bit of her midriff was showing – just enough to make Nicole blush as she tried not to stare.</p><p>Waverly giggled and dropped her hands while slowly stepping forward. She grabbed a mic that seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Mic held up to her face, she leaned forward over the crowd.</p><p>“Well, I hope you gorgeous people didn’t come out just for us,” she practically purred into the mic. “Now, that’d be a damn shame. Lovely city like Tucson. I guess I’m touched.”</p><p>If sweet Waverly made Nicole want to kiss the shit out of her (in her normal mindset), then there was no describing what seductive Waverly was doing to her. Certainly not something appropriate.</p><p>There was the distinct sound of a gunshot, and immediately, Nicole dropped down, prepared for an actual shooting. After all, she wanted to be a cop. She needed to have good reflexes.</p><p>No one in the crowd seemed fazed by the gunshot, though, and then, when Wynonna Earp appeared <em>swinging from a fucking rope like a chimpanzee</em>, Nicole realized that it was part of the show.</p><p>Wynonna was wearing a leather jacket, tight jeans that clung to her ass, and her customary leather boots, silver bangles, and fake ammo belt.</p><p>“Nobody’s gonna be touching <em>my</em> little sister,” Wynonna snarled upon landing, but she immediately dropped it and adopted a lazy grin. Waverly had stepped back and grabbed her guitar, standing just to the left of her sister. “Hey, fuckfaces!” Wynonna shouted.</p><p>The massive wall of noise that erupted in the stadium was almost enough to deafen Nicole permanently. She winced and covered her ears with her hands as she waited for the fans to die down.</p><p>Wynonna chuckled and shook her head. “I love you guys. I can insult you all I want, and you just want to marry me even more. See, back where I’m from, if I insulted someone, I usually got sent to the slammer.”</p><p>“When you insulted people back home, Nona, it was usually someone on the city council with a knife in your hand,” Waverly interjected, and laughter sounded around the stadium.</p><p>“Touché,” Wynonna growled with narrowed eyes, and then tossed a look at her sister. “You ready for this, baby girl?” she shouted.</p><p>“Just shut up and sing.”</p><p>Wynonna laughed and shook her head. “Alright, then!”</p><p>Waverly struck the first chord of a song, and, not missing a beat, Wynonna jumped in with the opening verse.</p><p>The words were practically indistinguishable to Nicole, who’d hardly heard any of their songs before. The crowd was screaming along too loudly, convincing her that she’d definitely suffer some sort of hearing loss afterwards.</p><p>She remembered briefly thinking about how Peacemaker didn’t have a drummer, but she didn’t have any time to think about what it meant before Waverly Earp’s gorgeous brown eyes locked onto hers.</p><p>And Waverly’s smile got just a little bit wider as her fingers flew across the strings of her guitar.</p><p>In spite of everything, Nicole found herself dumbly smiling right back.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The concert was good. No, it was great. There was something exhilarating about hearing rock music live that Nicole really couldn’t place her finger on. By the time the last song rolled around, she was buzzed from adrenaline rather than substance, like many of the Earpers around her. Focusing on Waverly throughout the performance even made it easier for her to ignore the fact that she was in the midst of a school of people.</p><p>Maybe it was just her being a confident lesbian, but she’d bet good money that Waverly kept looking back at her throughout the performance. She was well aware that Waverly had given her tickets that included backstage passes, but she had absolutely no intention of sticking around. Well… She knew she had to apologize, but now that the concert was actually over, she found herself too anxious to actually talk to Waverly again.</p><p>Confident enough to believe that she kept looking at her, but too anxious to talk to her again. Wasn’t that a lovely combination?</p><p>Of course, it might’ve been foolish for Nicole to think she’d be allowed to escape the stadium. She barely made it to the first set of doors before she got stopped by a security guard.</p><p>“Miss Haught? Waverly Earp has requested your presence backstage.”</p><p>Several people were shooting her jealous looks as they passed by, the large crowd that was on the floor slowly filtering through two double doors, but all Nicole could think was…</p><p>“How the fuck did you pick me out of a crowd!?”</p><p>“I’ll go! If she doesn’t want to, I will!” some random girl cried out.</p><p>The security guard held up a hand as the girl shoved her way through to them. “I’m afraid Miss Earp’s instructions were clear. She requests Miss Haught’s presence and no one else’s.”</p><p>The girl slunk off, grumbling to herself about ungrateful, fake Earpers.</p><p>“And if I don’t want to go?” Nicole asked, crossing her arms and lifting her chin in defiance. “You can’t just kidnap me. That’s a little illegal.”</p><p>The guard sized her up for a moment. She was almost as tall as him (perks of being a human giraffe, part one). He ran a hand over his beard in thought. When she raised an eyebrow challengingly, he just shrugged and put his hands into his pockets.</p><p>“Alright, then. I’ll just tell Miss Earp you said no. She’ll be pretty disappointed, I guess… Oh, well. Sorry for bothering you, Miss Haught.”</p><p>That was <em>so</em> unfair. Nicole rolled her eyes and was determined to stand her ground as he turned away… Her determination lasting about a whole two seconds as the thought of her making Waverly upset occupied her mind. She didn’t know what it was, but there was just something about Waverly that made it impossible to say no to her.</p><p>Even though Nicole had only talked to her a total of twice and had been a bitch both times.</p><p>She sighed and ran a hand over her face. “Fine, fine! Take me to her.”</p><p>The guard smirked and beckoned for her to follow him as he broke out of the thinning crowd. He led her over to a door that had a sign reading ‘Event Employees Only’. They wove through hallways and went through more doors than Nicole knew the stadium even had. At one point, she became convinced that he was leading her in circles, and it was her punishment for the previous day.</p><p>Eventually, they reached a simple room with a couple of couches, a coffee table, and a drum set, off to the side.</p><p>“Wait here. Miss Earp will be with you soon,” the guard told her before taking his leave.</p><p>
  <em>Weird, but… Okay…</em>
</p><p>Nicole shook her head in confusion before taking a seat on one of the tan couches. She fiddled with the ends of her hair and waited for something to happen. There was music playing over the speakers – one of Peacemaker’s songs if she wasn’t mistaken. It wasn’t bad. In fact, it was very good.</p><p>Wynonna’s voice was rich and husky at the same time, and Waverly’s guitar in the background acted pretty much as icing on the cake, every chord perfectly struck. Nicole had never heard a recording of Peacemaker before – at least, not where she was actually listening to it. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing.</p><p>Her eyes drifted over towards the drum set, sitting abandoned in the corner. She frowned slightly. That was it. There was no underlying rhythm or beat to the song that was playing over the speakers. If only someone…</p><p><em>No.</em> <em>Don’t use a drum set that’s not yours, dummy. You could get in serious trouble if someone caught you.</em></p><p>She bit her lip, unable to tear her eyes from the admittedly quite beautiful set. She hadn’t played in so long… After a minute, she spared a quick glance at the door and decided that Waverly probably wouldn’t be there for at least a few more minutes.</p><p>The drum set won the little argument she’d been having with herself.</p><p>She approached it, letting her fingers ghost over the golden high hat and shined black drum heads. There was no way she was letting a magnificent instrument such as this go ignored any longer.</p><p>“Poor baby, left all alone in here, no one to play with you,” she murmured soothingly to it as she took a seat behind it. There were drumsticks in a pouch hanging off of the snare.</p><p>She started with a simple rhythm, quickly finding the beat of the song. She had played percussion for years, but since starting college, she hadn’t had any time for any sort of band or ensemble. She was a criminal justice major. She had to stick to what would help her in the future. There simply wasn’t enough hours in the day for her struggling ass. Maybe if she were a bit smarter, then she could handle it, but that wasn’t the case.</p><p>Not wanting to think about that any longer, she let herself get lost in the music. It sounded <em>much</em> better with the drums added, she decided. At one point, where Wynonna stopped singing and Waverly had a solo, Nicole began to improvise. She hadn’t actually heard this song, so she wasn’t exactly sure what the guitar was doing, but she did her best to make her improvisation match.</p><p>Right before the end of the song hit, the door slammed open.</p><p>“Shit!” Nicole hissed, bolting upwards. Her foot caught on the drum set’s stool as she tried to scramble away, knocking both it and her to the ground. “<em>Fuck!</em>” She had the strangely lucid thought (amidst the sudden panic) to be grateful that she hadn’t wrecked any actual drums.</p><p>She got to her feet, but before she’d even been able to look at who’d thrown the door open as if it was made of cardboard, a body crashed into hers.</p><p>“Jesus fucking Christ!” Nicole squeaked while the body crushed the life out of her. It took a solid minute for her to register that the body was none other than Waverly Earp herself. When she did, heat crept up the back of her neck and subsequently flooded her face as her mind went to very, very bad places, propelled by the fact that their entire bodies were touching.</p><p>Waverly pulled back, beaming from ear to ear, and Nicole figured that whatever she did that caused such a glowing expression, she’d have to keep doing it, just for the reaction.</p><p>“You can drum!” Waverly squealed. “I knew you could drum! Wynonna didn’t believe me, but I was right! You can drum!”</p><p>An entirely new form of embarrassment came over Nicole then. She took a step back and awkwardly rubbed the back of her head, her free hand finding its way into her pocket. “I, uh… Yeah. I guess.”</p><p>“No, there’s no ‘I guess’ about it, silly. You can drum. Do you know what this means?”</p><p><em>Absolutely not.</em> “Uh… That I like to hit things and had to learn percussion to take out my childhood anger on inanimate objects instead of letting it fester?”</p><p>“That… I… No, that’s not… My god, is that true?” Waverly asked, eyes wide.</p><p>“…No,” she lied. “It was a joke.”</p><p>“That was not a good joke.”</p><p>“Sorry. And, um, sorry about… About yesterday, too.” Nicole sighed, putting both of her hands into her pockets and hunching over slightly. “I was a complete asshole to you. I swear, I’m not usually like that. I taught myself to never let my emotions get in the way of treating others with respect, and I didn’t treat you with as much respect as I should’ve yesterday. I couldn’t let you leave town until I apologized.”</p><p>“Really? Because it took nothing short of a miracle to get you into this room.”</p><p>Nicole felt her face heat up again. “Er… Yeah… I was a tad bit embarrassed about it, too. I’m not normally like that.”</p><p>Waverly smiled warmly. “I didn’t think you were. I worked at a bar up until a year or so ago. I’m pretty good at telling when someone’s naturally a dick or just having a bad day.”</p><p>“Going from a bartender to a rock star in a year, huh?”</p><p>“Mhm. It was less of an adjustment than I was expecting. Instead of taking care of drunk patrons, I was taking care of my drunk sisters.”</p><p>“Sisters?” Nicole nitpicked, her brow furrowing slightly.</p><p>It was Waverly’s turn to blush (which, for the record, was <em>really fucking cute</em>). Her nose scrunched slightly, just about making Nicole’s gay heart seize up. “Sister. I-I meant sister.”</p><p>Because she was already incredibly confused about why she was there, as well as what Waverly wanted from her, Nicole let it slide. They both took a seat on opposing couches, avoiding each other’s gaze. There was a sort of awkward silence, and for the life of her, Nicole couldn’t seem to figure out how to break it. Much to her relief, Waverly only took a couple of minutes to change the subject.</p><p>“You can drum,” she said for the fourth time now, much slower than she’d said it before, as if she was thinking about the words as she said them. “I don’t know if you noticed, Nicole, but we don’t really have a drummer. Not anymore, anyway. We just lost our drummer a month ago. Went off somewhere else without us.”</p><p>“I’m sorry.”</p><p>“It’s not a big deal…” Waverly sighed with that same nose-scrunch as before. “Do you know where I’m going with this though?”</p><p>Nicole hesitated, glancing at the drum set. She knew that she <em>should</em> recognize what Waverly meant, but unfortunately, she suffered Dumb Bitch Syndrome, which evolved into Dumb Gay Bitch Syndrome when in the presence of a beautiful woman.</p><p>Waverly flashed a brilliant smile and reached over the coffee table to grasp her hands. “Nicole, I want you to be our new drummer!”</p><p>It seemed that Dumb Gay Bitch Syndrome was fatal.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I just wanted to thank you guys for all of the lovely feedback and kudos on chapter one! Honestly, I was kind of blown away by how amazing you all are. I was going to post this tomorrow, but I got too excited and decided to post it today before going into work. I really, really hope you guys like this one because it was a blast to write!</p><p>Of course, thanks again to my beta and main supporter, Mvphoenix. She helps me out with a lot of little details that I honestly can't come up with myself. She's also my "songwriter" for this story, and we'll see a few of her songs featured throughout.</p><p>Please continue to give me feedback though if you want me to keep writing Chasing You! I hope to see you all again sometime next week with chapter three :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Part of the Band</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Waverly flashed a brilliant smile and reached over the coffee table to grasp her hands. “Nicole, I want you to be our new drummer!”</p>
<p>It seemed that Dumb Gay Bitch Syndrome was fatal.</p>
<p>Or, Nicole surely thought so as she began choking on the air moving through her throat. She withdrew her hands from Waverly’s to pound on her chest and try to sort out whatever had gone wrong. Waverly watched her with a concerned gaze, one arm half-extended, as if to help. That almost made it worse.</p>
<p>Nicole coughed into her hand, trying <em>not</em> to die. The only thought that crossed her mind was that she must look so stupid. By the time she recovered, tears were filling her eyes from the choking, and she furiously wiped them away before returning her attention to Waverly.</p>
<p>“You want me to… <em>what?</em>” she demanded in a strained voice. Surely, she hadn’t heard Waverly right. Surely, she didn’t want her to –</p>
<p>“I-I want you to be our new drummer,” Waverly repeated, though she sounded a bit more unsure of herself. “Like I said, it’s been a month since we’ve had one. I don’t think Peacemaker will survive much longer without one.”</p>
<p>Nicole was dumbfounded. She shook her head a couple of times, trying to figure out if she was hallucinating. “How… How did you even know I <em>could</em> drum?”</p>
<p>Color flooded Waverly’s cheeks and she quickly ducked her head, avoiding Nicole’s gaze. Again, Nicole couldn’t, for the life of her, recognize the confident guitarist she’d seen on stage in the sweet, almost shy woman sitting across from her. She was like a whole different person entirely. It was a fleeting thought, but Nicole wondered if the same thing would happen to her, should she accept the invitation. She was both terrified and somewhat thrilled by the idea.</p>
<p>Slowly, Waverly reached into the purse that she had brought into the room. She withdrew a small, folded picture, and slid it across the table. Nicole hesitated for only a moment before taking it and unfolding it.</p>
<p>“You took this from my wallet?” she whispered, her eyebrows drawn together in confusion and a bit of sadness as she surveyed the picture. The only picture of herself she kept in her wallet, IDs aside. The picture that reminded her just how far she could get on her own. She hadn’t even noticed that Waverly had taken it.</p>
<p>Waverly bit her lip, still avoiding her gaze. “I-I might have,” she admitted quietly. “I was always going to return it after the concert. I just needed to show it to my sister.”</p>
<p>“Why me? I’m sure there’s hundreds of drummers out there who would <em>kill</em> to be part of Peacemaker. I’m just a girl from Tucson who failed college. I didn’t even give you a very good first impression of me… Why do you want me to be your drummer?”</p>
<p>“I’ve tried to hold auditions. Wynonna won’t go for it. She’s too upset about our old drummer still, and I mean, I am too, but… That doesn’t mean we just stop performing. It doesn’t mean we just give up. When’s the last time you heard of a famous rock band without a drummer? Never.”</p>
<p>“That doesn’t answer my question,” Nicole pointed out.</p>
<p>Waverly sighed. “I know. The truth is, I don’t know how to answer it. There was just something about you, I guess.”</p>
<p>“Desperation? Irritation? Failure? Anxiety?”</p>
<p>“…No. No, it wasn’t any of those. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t bad. I just…” Waverly wrung her hands in front of her. “I really think you’re the one. It’s a feeling. I’m an excellent judge of character, you know.”</p>
<p><em>You’re the one</em>. Nicole wasn’t sure anyone had ever said that to her before. Between all of the teachers, professors, and advisors that constantly told her <em>you can’t</em>, it was strange to find someone who said the opposite. <em>You can drum</em>. Even her high school band director had never complimented her. She thought he would, when she won that trophy. She got a nearly-perfect score, and all he said was <em>you could’ve done better.</em></p>
<p>The only person who had ever believed in her was her high school basketball and track coach.</p>
<p>She had spent her whole life striving to be noticed, to exceed. To do good and have it recognized. So many teachers, coaches, adults had given her the same spiel about being better, and for once, it was nice to have someone treat her with respect for what she had already accomplished.</p>
<p>
  <em>You can drum. You’re the one.</em>
</p>
<p>Swallowing hard, Nicole looked back down at her hands, at the picture still grasped between them. The smile on her face, before her band director cut her back down. If possible, she found herself liking Waverly Earp even more.</p>
<p>“You want me to be your drummer,” she murmured, rubbing the trophy in the picture with her thumb.</p>
<p>“I do, I really do.”</p>
<p>Nicole slowly met Waverly’s gaze again. “And what if I say yes?”</p>
<p>A radiant smile broke over Waverly’s face, making Nicole’s heart skip a beat. “You’d still have to get Wynonna’s stamp of approval, but she’s pretty susceptible to my charms,” she grinned. “All I have to do is say, ‘Nona, <em>please?’ </em>and she’s putty in my hands.”</p>
<p>Well, at least Nicole wasn’t alone in that. She had only known Waverly for two days, but she was fairly certain, if Waverly wanted her to throw her hand on a spike or get a blazing phoenix tattoo on her ass, she wouldn’t be capable of saying no. Just like she wasn’t now.</p>
<p>It was definitely a bonus that she knew Peacemaker was on tour, and the thought of practically living with Waverly in a tight tour bus was… Very, very disorienting.</p>
<p>
  <em>Jesus Christ, can you stop being a raging lesbian for just one fucking minute?</em>
</p>
<p>No. No, she could not.</p>
<p>“Okay,” she said eventually. “Okay, I’ll say yes, but I’m not going to bend over backwards to impress your sister.”</p>
<p>Waverly smiled from ear to ear. “Come on, then!” she squealed, jumping to her feet. She grabbed one of Nicole’s hands and yanked her up before darting off, dragging Nicole with her.</p>
<p><em>All those years of track paid off, I guess</em>, Nicole couldn’t help but think as she followed behind the too-fast tiny guitarist. They were literally running through the halls. The halls of a multi-million dollar stadium. And no one they passed even said anything, merely watched in amusement as Waverly sped through the hallways, as if it was normal.</p>
<p>Nicole wasn’t even able to run through her high school’s hallways without getting yelled at. Damn teachers. She’d come a long way since the days she’d smoke cigarettes behind the church, though. It seemed that everyone who wasn’t crushing on her had it out for her back then because she was the weird kid – she was the one who, when she enrolled at the end of freshman year, had already been to three high schools beforehand.</p>
<p>And an unholy number of elementary and middle schools.</p>
<p>But Waverly didn’t know about any of that. Nicole had a blank slate with the Earps. She could actually do it. She could get away from all of the failures of her life and try something new. Be someone else. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the more she thought about it, the more excited she became. Anxious, too, but excited mostly.</p>
<p>Waverly skidded to a stop, and Nicole thanked the heavens for letting her stop in time and not accidentally bowl Waverly over. They were both breathing hard from the running, adrenaline pumping through their veins. They shared an exhilarated smile before Waverly took a deep breath and went through the door before them.</p>
<p>It was only the second time Nicole was seeing Wynonna Earp, and she was even prettier in person. Keeping in mind, of course, that she still couldn’t hold a candle to Waverly.</p>
<p>Wynonna also had her tongue down some dude’s throat.</p>
<p>Waverly cleared her throat, and the man pulled back, flashing her an annoyed look. “I got a backstage pass, Earp,” he muttered to her before returning to Wynonna.</p>
<p>After a minute, Wynonna pushed him away. “Okay, we’re done now,” she declared, leaving him alone as she walked over to her sister. “Who’s this?”</p>
<p>“This is the drummer I told you about. Remember?”</p>
<p>Wynonna narrowed her eyes. “Vaguely. I’m pretty sure I was drunk.”</p>
<p>“You’re drunk now,” Waverly pointed out.</p>
<p>“Touché, baby girl,” Wynonna said as she waved away the guy with the backstage pass as he tried to go for her again, not even bothering to look when a security guard quickly stepped forward to take him away.</p>
<p>Wynonna nudged Waverly aside and began to circle Nicole as if she were prey. Her hands rubbed together in front of her as she let out a humming sound. For a minute, Nicole did feel like prey, until remembering her decision to not try to impress the singer.</p>
<p>Instead of cowering, she stood up to her full height and crossed her arms over her chest. She was determined not to be intimidated. A hint of surprise flickered over Wynonna’s face, and Nicole struggled not to look too smug.</p>
<p>“Alright,” Wynonna declared. “You look alright, I guess. How do you drink?”</p>
<p>Nicole recoiled in confusion at the question. “How do I <em>drink</em>? Are you asking if I’m a lightweight?”</p>
<p>“Pretty much.”</p>
<p>“Well, I don’t drink,” Nicole answered with a roll of her eyes. “Not more than a single glass, anyway. I don’t feel like getting piss drunk every night and ruining my liver, unlike some people. You only get one of those, you know.”</p>
<p>Wynonna sent her a disgusted look. She had her mouth hanging open and a hand braced on her chest in shock. She whirled around to face Waverly, pointing a finger rudely at the redhead. “Of all of the drummers you could’ve picked, Waverly, out of <em>all of them</em>, you choose the one with a stick so far up her ass it’s a wonder she can even stand.”</p>
<p>Waverly pursed her lips, glancing between Nicole and Wynonna, and then shrugged and nodded.</p>
<p>“No. Nope. Nada. Niet. Nien,” Wynonna insisted. “No. I resist. I veto. I override. <em>No.</em>”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So, that’s it, huh?”</p>
<p>Waverly nodded, her hands clasped in front of her as she walked Nicole over to the tour bus. “Home sweet home. For the rest of the tour, anyway. It gets a little tight at times, but you get used to it. As long as Nona doesn’t bring random groupies, anyway.”</p>
<p>“She does that?”</p>
<p>“Occasionally. She’s supposed to bring them to the hotel room we stay in, but in a drunken sex stupor, every now and then, a groupie has been able to convince her to show them the bus.”</p>
<p>Nicole shook her head. “You and her seem very different, you know that?”</p>
<p>Waverly gave a huffy sort of laugh. “You’ll find that some things are common in all Earps,” she warned.</p>
<p>“Like what?” Nicole asked, turning to face her.</p>
<p>“Well, for one, we’re stubborn to a fault.”</p>
<p>“Sounds like my kind of people.”</p>
<p>“We’re also incredibly heroic.”</p>
<p>“And so modest, too.”</p>
<p>Waverly rolled her eyes and bumped Nicole’s shoulder. “You know, I’m starting to think I misjudged you,” she scoffed. Nicole almost would’ve believed it if not for the hint of humor in Waverly’s radiant, bright eyes.</p>
<p>They stood there for another minute, merely looking at the outside of the tour bus, until Waverly shivered. If she hadn’t seen it, Nicole almost wouldn’t have believed it, that someone could be cold on an early summer night in Arizona.</p>
<p>“Maybe we oughta go inside?” she suggested.</p>
<p>Waverly nodded, walking towards the door and unlocking it. Once it was open, a man who was snoozing in the driver’s seat startled. He shook his head and yawned. “Evenin’, Waves,” he mumbled.</p>
<p>“Have a good nap, Shorty?” she chuckled.</p>
<p>“As good as can get in this seat, I think. Who’s this? You’re not pulling a Nona, are you?”</p>
<p>Nicole didn’t miss the way that Waverly stiffened and her face turned a bright, cherry red. “N-no,” she stammered out. “Come on, you know me. I wouldn’t do that.”</p>
<p>“You’re missing the afterparty, though,” he grinned. He reached a hand out to Nicole. “You can just call me Shorty.”</p>
<p>“Nicole. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”</p>
<p>He shot a surprised look towards Waverly. “Such manners. Makes me think these girls aren’t quite treating me right.”</p>
<p>“Aw, you know we love you,” Waverly grinned as she squeezed past Nicole to hug him. “Nicole’s gonna be our new drummer.”</p>
<p>He blinked in surprise. “So soon? I’m sorry, Waves.”</p>
<p>She waved his comment aside and then gestured for Nicole to follow her further into the tour bus. It had a couch and a tv on one side, a small kitchenette on the other. It seemed bigger on the inside. At the other end of the bus, there were four bunks built into the walls, two on each side. The very back of the bus had two rooms. “That one’s the bedroom,” Waverly said, pointing to one of them. “We both use the bunks, though. The bedroom’s more of a study. It’s where I go when I write songs, and where Wynonna goes where she wants to brood. That other door is the bathroom. I know the bus isn’t very big…”</p>
<p>“Waverly, I pretty much grew up in my parents’ dirt-colored, crap-covered ’92 Honda Accord. I’m no stranger to road life, trust me.”</p>
<p>“That’s good. You’re a long ways ahead of where Wynonna and I were. Our second day on the road at the start of the tour, she almost jumped out a window.”</p>
<p>“And you?” Nicole asked with an amused smile.</p>
<p>“I never quite got so drastic, but it took a while for me to feel comfortable in here. When we’d spend a couple of nights in a city, in an actual hotel room, it felt like paradise in comparison. Now, I’m more used to it.”</p>
<p>“Is it home?”</p>
<p>Waverly shifted, running a hand down a cupboard in the mini kitchen. “Sort of, I guess. Home for now. Home’s kind of become wherever Wynonna is.”</p>
<p>Nicole bit her lip. She had a question on the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t want to seem insensitive. “How can you tolerate her?” Whoops, question came out anyway. She shook her head when she caught something flicker over Waverly’s eyes. “I-I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant… Like I said, you both seem very different.”</p>
<p>“We’re sisters,” Waverly sighed. “I know what you mean. She’s a bit insufferable, she was – is – the town pariah back where we’re from, and she’s never been very good at making friends. It doesn’t change the fact that we’re sisters. Do you have any siblings?”</p>
<p>“Nope. It’s just me.”</p>
<p>Waverly kept her gaze on the cupboard even as her hand fell back down to her side. “Sisters are something else. They make you simultaneously want to hug them, punch them, and tear out your own hair.”</p>
<p>“Are you sure she’s okay with me signing on?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, she’ll be fine. She’s just a bit upset over our old drummer. Neither of us like change very much.”</p>
<p>Nicole rubbed her right arm nervously as she stared at the ground. “You guys are leaving tonight, aren’t you?”</p>
<p>“Technically, tomorrow morning. Or, today morning. It’s almost two am.”</p>
<p>“Is it?” Nicole glanced towards the small microwave, reading the time. “I… I can’t just leave all of my stuff, Waverly. I need to go back to my dorm and pack a suitcase or two. And I have a cat. She’s kind of my only friend – I can’t leave her behind or give her to a shelter.”</p>
<p>Waverly’s gaze softened. “I’m sure we can work something out to keep your cat here. Wynonna will act like she hates it, but deep down, she’s a huge fan of all animals. Maybe we can put a litterbox in the bathroom.”</p>
<p>Relief flooded Nicole, and she smiled practically from ear to ear, in a way she hadn’t for a while. “Thank you, Waverly. You’re amazing,” she said genuinely.</p>
<p>Waverly’s cheeks turned a little pink and she dipped her head to try to hide it. All Nicole could think was that it did the impossible and somehow managed to make her even more beautiful than she already was. In fact, if they were going to be spending more time together, what was the harm in actually flirting a little? A girl like Waverly didn’t come around every millennia.</p>
<p>She opened her mouth, fully intending to show off her well-bred (but good-intentioned) charm and flirt some, maybe make Waverly blush even more. It seemed to her that Waverly was very easily flustered, and causing her to blush was almost intoxicating.</p>
<p>However, right as she had a gentle compliment on her tongue, the door to the tour bus opened, and in walked what Nicole could only describe as a boy-man. Not quite a boy. Not quite a man. A boy-man.</p>
<p>The boy-man walked over to Waverly and casually slung an arm over her shoulder. He reeked of whiskey and rose-scented perfume (which, it must be stated, was <em>not</em> the scent of perfume that Waverly used).</p>
<p>(For those curious, Nicole reflected, Waverly smelled of honey and books).</p>
<p>Waverly rolled her eyes as the boy-man planted a sloppy kiss on the side of her head. “Not now, Champ,” she sighed. “In case you didn’t notice, we’re not alone.”</p>
<p>Nicole held her hands up and took a small step back. “Hey, now, don’t let me interrupt. I’ll just take a late bus back to my dorm and start packing.” <em>Guess there’s no point to taking my finals anyway.</em></p>
<p>“I missed you, baby,” Champ murmured against Waverly’s cheek before kissing it. “You should’ve come to the afterparty with us. You got your sister all worried.”</p>
<p>“Champ, please,” Waverly protested as she pulled away. “Later, okay? I wanna help Nicole move her stuff to the bus.”</p>
<p>He looked at Nicole, as if noticing her for the first time. “Who’s this?”</p>
<p>This boy-man <em>definitely</em> rubbed Nicole the wrong way, and not just because he was smothering the girl she absolutely had a small, tiny, insignificant crush on. “Nicole Haught. I’m the new drummer for Peacemaker,” she introduced herself, even going so far as to extend her hand for him to shake. Which he did.</p>
<p>Nicole didn’t learn a lot from her father, but one thing that he did tell her was that you could tell a lot about someone by the way they shook your hand. And Champ? His handshake indicated that he was very, very weak-willed. Not that she was thinking about that, or felt any sort of satisfaction because of it, and because she knew that her own handshake was strong and firm. Nope. Not at all.</p>
<p>“Babe, you didn’t tell me you were looking for a new drummer. I wanted to audition.”</p>
<p>Waverly bit her lip and avoided Champ’s gaze, her nose ever so slightly scrunched up. “We weren’t – it was really unexpected. You know, Nicole just had a <em>lot</em> of experience, and Wynonna and her hit it off immediately. I told Wynonna to hold actual auditions, but you know how she gets.”</p>
<p>Nicole blinked a couple of times in confusion. Waverly just straight lied through her teeth. Was it wrong to be a little bit impressed?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Somehow, Waverly was able to convince the mostly-drunk Champ (or Chump, as Nicole had taken to calling him in her head) to help them sort out her dorm room. It took quite a while for them to actually get there, since Waverly was stopped by several of the college students, either staying up late for studying or coming back from the Peacemaker concert, for autographs. She was very sweet and accommodating, for the most part signing wherever they wanted.</p>
<p>It was almost sad, moving out of her dorm room. Nicole had spent two years living on campus – of course, different rooms, but same campus. Calamity Jane was a bit grumpy about having all of her crap moved, and she spent the better part of the night (morning?) exploring the tour bus and hissing at random shit. She was in a considerably better mood once Champ left to go back to the roadies’ bus.</p>
<p>As Waverly had predicted, Wynonna grumbled about having a “mangy beast” on the bus with them, but she was too drunk to put up much of a fight. Neither Waverly nor Nicole said much to each other as they found places for Nicole’s admittedly few possessions. After they helped Wynonna into her bunk, they said their goodnights and retired to their own.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the bunk wasn’t very… long. Nicole had to bend her legs a little to be able to fit. (Downsides of being a human giraffe, part one).</p>
<p>When she woke up again, it was well past noon. It was almost thrilling to think that she had now completely missed her economics final. She shuffled onto the couch, where Waverly and Wynonna were already sitting. “There’s a pot of coffee in the kitchen,” Waverly told her before taking a sip from her own mug. “A couple of extra mugs in the cupboard.”</p>
<p>Nicole nodded, but didn’t bother getting up yet. “Fuck, that all really happened, didn’t it?” she murmured.</p>
<p>As if confirming the question, Calamity Jane slid out from under the couch. She let out a small, confused meow before jumping up onto Nicole’s lap.</p>
<p>“I didn’t know you were part of a package deal,” Wynonna said with a roll of her eyes. “I should’ve said I was allergic.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, you didn’t.”</p>
<p>Waverly leaned forward to peek around Wynonna at Nicole. “She was on top of you this morning. She’s really sweet, you know.”</p>
<p>Nicole looked down at her cat with a sleepy smile. “I know.”</p>
<p>“Good news is,” Wynonna sighed, “Our next concert isn’t until tomorrow, right?”</p>
<p>“Right. We arrive in Kansas City in the morning, and we’re gonna take a stop today in Albuquerque. The roadies and truck left a few hours before us, so things will be set up already, even with our impromptu member changes.”</p>
<p>Nicole’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline as she stared at Waverly. “You mean… I’m going to be performing <em>tomorrow</em>?”</p>
<p>“Uh, yeah, dipshit, that’s what she just said.”</p>
<p>“Hey! Be nice,” Waverly chastised as she lightly punched Wynonna’s arm.</p>
<p>“I don’t know any of your songs, though?” Nicole pointed out.</p>
<p>Waverly gave her a reassuring smile, and just like before, it didn’t fail to make Nicole’s heart skip a beat or two. “We’ll be doing an extended practice session during the day tomorrow to help you get ahold of some of them. Your improvisation was really good, too.”</p>
<p>“Get ready, though, Haughtstuff,” Wynonna warned. She held up a hand and pointed lazily at Nicole.</p>
<p>“Uh… For what?”</p>
<p>“For Albuquerque. You’re gonna meet your new boss, and then we’re gonna get you a new look.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading, and of course, for all of the amazing comments and kudos that you all left on chapter two. I'm really glad so many of you are enjoying this fic! I can't tell you guys what it means to me to have your support.</p>
<p>As always, shoutout to my beta, Mvphoenix, for making all of this happen and listening to my endless rantings and ramblings about this fic.</p>
<p>I want to establish a schedule where I post every Monday, occasionally doubling up and posting a chapter on Thursday. There won't be one up this Thursday though because my weekend was crazy and I got very little writing done.</p>
<p>I really, really hope you guys like chapter three! Please give kudos and/or leave a comment below if you want me to post chapter four next week!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Albuquerque</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shortly after they were all woken up, the bus pulled up to a gas station in Western New Mexico. The town was small enough that Wynonna and Waverly were only stopped by two fans. Nicole didn’t miss the strange looks they sent her way. Once the fans had left, all three members of Peacemaker used the showers in the gas station – something that none of them were strangers to.</p><p>“So, I’m gonna be meeting our boss later?” Nicole asked as she and Waverly scoured the candy aisle. Wynonna had already grabbed some shit, reluctantly forked over a few bills to the cashier, and went back to the bus.</p><p>“Mhm. Xavier Dolls. He’s… A bit hard to please. Don’t be surprised if he seems critical. He means well, I promise.”</p><p>“I’m sure it’ll go fine,” Nicole said. She ghosted her fingers over a couple of candy bars, trying to decide which one to get. “Was this always what you wanted to do? Be a part of a band?”</p><p>Waverly let out a small laugh, the sound causing warmth to bloom in Nicole’s stomach. “No, not at all. In fact, I wanted to research history.”</p><p>“History?”</p><p>“Yeah. I did a bunch of online schooling, took a shit ton of courses, got a degree in history, a couple more in some foreign, dead languages. I wanted to get a masters, and eventually a PhD. Maybe teach or something, I don’t know.”</p><p>The way Nicole was looking at her caused Waverly to duck her head and look away. Nicole smiled softly and shook her head. “Waverly Earp, a history buff. Who knew?” she teased.</p><p>Waverly shrugged and ran her hands down her waist-high leggings. “Well, it’s because of Wyatt Earp that I got into it.”</p><p>“Earp? Any connection?”</p><p>“My great-great-grandfather. He was a legend, back where Wynonna and I are from. He put down seventy-seven outlaws in his day.”</p><p>“A legend, huh?” Nicole murmured. She shook her head slowly, still giving Waverly that strange, intense look. “I guess it runs in the family.”</p><p>Waverly blushed scarlet, quickly grabbing a couple of candy bars for the road and skirting over to the next aisle for chips. “A-anyway, I always thought I’d be a historian or something. Sometimes, I still can’t believe I got roped into starting up a band,” she laughed.</p><p>“You didn’t want to start up a band?” Nicole asked as she followed Waverly to the next aisle. Her brow was furrowed a little in concern.</p><p>“I didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I did. I like it, more than I ever thought I would. There’s just something about performing live and getting to rock out and be yourself… You’re gonna love it. I really think you’re gonna love it.”</p><p>Nicole couldn’t help the small smile that spread on her lips. “I’m a little nervous,” she admitted.</p><p>“That’s normal. I was, too, when we were starting out. I still remember our first performance, at my Uncle Curtis’ birthday party. I almost had a panic attack beforehand and everything.”</p><p>“How did you get over the nerves?”</p><p>Waverly grinned and glanced at her. “Truthfully? Wynonna basically wrestled me into the bathroom, dumped cold water on my head, and told me that it had the potential to go really badly, or really greatly, but I’d never know unless I got my ass out there and gave it my best shot.”</p><p>“That’s… More supportive than I took Wynonna for.”</p><p>“She’s not a bad person,” Waverly sighed, running an anxious hand through her light brown hair. “We both had a hard time growing up, but she had it worse than me. I know she’s dreading going back to perform in Purgatory.”</p><p>“The place you’re from is called Purgatory?”</p><p>“It’s rich, I know,” Waverly laughed. “It’s in Canada, so it’s pretty far off in the tour.”</p><p>Nicole leaned against a column at the end of the aisle, smiling faintly as she watched Waverly skim her fingers idly over a bag of potato chips. “Wow. Beautiful, an amazing guitar player, descended from a legendary outlaw-slayer, and from a place with a name as quirky as Purgatory. You’re something else, Waverly Earp, you know that?”</p><p>Once again, Waverly’s face turned red and she turned away. “I’m just me,” she said, her voice sounding a bit strained.</p><p>Nicole shrugged it off, following Waverly over to the cash register. The young woman behind the counter was staring at Waverly with big, shocked eyes, as if unable to comprehend that a celebrity was at her store, even though Wynonna had just purchased snacks at her register not even fifteen minutes prior.</p><p>“C-can I get a photo with you, Miss Earp?” the cashier asked timidly after ringing both of them up.</p><p>Immediately, Waverly flashed a bright smile, and for a moment, Nicole forgot how to breathe. “Of course! Nicole, would you mind?”</p><p>Nicole nodded dumbly, still winded from the radiant smile on Waverly’s face, and took the phone that the cashier handed her. The cashier rounded the counter and stood next to Waverly with an excited smile on her face. Nicole took about five pictures before handing the phone back to the girl.</p><p>“Thank you so much!” she gushed as she looked over the pictures. “You’re really lucky to know her,” she told Nicole as they took their bags and headed back out.</p><p>Waverly was blushing <em>again</em>, and Nicole couldn’t help a smirk. She nudged Waverly’s shoulder with her own as they walked back towards the tour bus. “You know, I detest that. I think you’re the one that’s lucky to know me.”</p><p>Waverly rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and I’m the ‘modest’ one.”</p><p>“Hey, don’t use my teasing of you against me. That’s unfair.”</p><p>They were both grinning as they reached the tour bus and Nicole opened the door for Waverly to step in, following behind. Calamity Jane was sitting next to Shorty, and she stood with an eager meow upon seeing her person.</p><p>“What took you bitches so long?” Wynonna complained, earning herself a playful smack from Waverly.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They had settled down on the couch and decided to put on some Marvel movie, which Nicole was only half paying attention to. Waverly was sitting in the middle, and her leg was just barely brushing up against Nicole’s, something that Nicole was <em>very</em> aware of.</p><p>She mentally chastised herself. Waverly had a boyfriend, if last night was any indication. Sure, he seemed a bit like a dick, and he had definitely smelled like another girl’s perfume, but Nicole wasn’t the type of person to actively flirt with someone who was in a relationship. She had a pretty intense disdain for cheaters, and sweet little Waverly didn’t deserve to be taunted into cheating.</p><p>Because, you know, despite her few anxieties over the fact that Waverly was a literal goddess of sunshine, Nicole was <em>pretty</em> sure she could catch her attention. If she wanted. At least, if Waverly’s blushing every time Nicole so much as complimented her was any indication.</p><p>She had more self-control than to actually go after Waverly. It hurt, because by now, she was pretty sure there was no greater person in the world than the beautiful guitarist, but Waverly was in a relationship. It wasn’t Nicole’s place to try to break that up, no matter how much she wanted to. She could only hope that Waverly came to her senses and got rid of the cheating, lying idiot who only seemed to care about himself.</p><p>Unfortunately, the best things in life had a habit of being corruptible, and there were always some horrible people out there who would take advantage of them.</p><p>There was a set of ideals that Nicole had for the type of person she wanted to be, and someone who broke up what, for all she knew, could be a happy relationship didn’t fit those ideals in the slightest.</p><p>The drive from the gas station to Albuquerque didn’t take as long as Nicole had been expecting, and it seemed like not long after the movie ended that they arrived.</p><p>“You three girls don’t get into too much trouble, now, you hear?” Shorty grinned as he parked the tour bus in the middle of a shopping center.</p><p>“Just a little trouble?” Wynonna whined.</p><p>“Just a tad.”</p><p>“Fuck yeah!” she exclaimed, pumping her fist into the air. “Come on, baby girl, we’ve gotta go steal some shit from that Kohl’s!”</p><p>Waverly shot out a hand and grabbed Wynonna by the sleeve, tugging her roughly back as she tried to bound towards the door. “We don’t steal shit, Wynonna. We pay for it like regular, law-abiding people,” she chastised.</p><p>“Ugh, fine. Let’s go, though. We’ve gotta find a secluded place to talk to Dolls. He’s calling in, like, five minutes.”</p><p>They shuffled out of the bus after making sure they had enough money to explore for a couple of hours, Waverly immediately guiding them towards a coffee shop. “The best place to find a secluded spot, and meet potential new drummers, in my experience,” she explained as they stepped inside. “Though I have to admit, the one we met at was <em>really</em> crowded.”</p><p>Nicole shrugged, shoving her hands into her pockets. “It was right next to a college campus on the Saturday morning before finals week. I don’t know what you expected.”</p><p>There was an empty booth near the back of the coffee shop, which Wynonna quickly claimed as Waverly and Nicole went to place their order. When they got back to the booth, Wynonna had already pulled out her tablet and was setting it up on the table.</p><p>“Ready to meet your new boss, Red?”</p><p>Nicole shrugged, effectively hiding the nerves that had started to take hold. When the call came in, Wynonna wasted no time before reaching forward and pressing answer.</p><p>The very first thing that Nicole noticed about her new boss, Xavier Dolls, was how well-dressed he was, even for a video call. The second thing she noticed was the serious, no-nonsense expression on his face. The third thing was how, when he saw her, he immediately turned his head to glare at Wynonna.</p><p>“I told you, Earp, I don’t want any groupies overhearing our calls,” he sighed.</p><p>Nicole physically drew back at the implication of being a groupie. She opened her mouth and was about to say something when she felt Waverly’s fingers dig into her knee, and she promptly closed it.</p><p>“Hi Dolls!” Waverly greeted him. “Don’t worry, Nicole’s not a groupie. Didn’t I tell you about her?”</p><p>“Nicole’s gonna be our new drummer,” Wynonna said with a look that clearly conveyed how dumb she thought the idea was. “Get this, Dolls. Waverly meets this rando girl in Tucson, steals her wallet and <em>doesn’t even take the cash</em>, gives her backstage passes to our show, and then invites her onto our tour bus!”</p><p>Dolls’ gaze hardened a little, if that was even possible. “You didn’t run this by me, Waverly.”</p><p>Waverly looked down at her hands in shame, the tips of her ears sticking out of her hair turning red (not that Nicole was focusing on those, oh no, definitely not). Nicole decided in that instant that she didn’t like her new boss. Anyone who made Waverly feel bad for no reason didn’t place very highly in her book. Even Wynonna looked a bit uncomfortable by the awkward silence that descended, so Nicole took it upon herself to break it.</p><p>“That’s my bad, sir. I saw a drum set backstage and couldn’t help myself. Waverly really had no choice.”</p><p>He turned his piercing gaze back on her. “What’s your name, rookie?”</p><p>She clenched her fist under the table and offered him a polite smile. “Nicole Haught.”</p><p>“Haught. You sure you’re qualified to be Peacemaker’s drummer?”</p><p>Okay, so Nicole took a <em>little</em> bit of offense to that. She tilted her head to the side, studying him for a moment. “I could show you my five percussion trophies, my John Philip Sousa award, the fact that I placed second in the <em>national</em> percussion competition two years ago, records of all of the hours I spent <em>teaching</em> percussion to younger kids because, yes, the school system was just that shitty – but, you know, I don’t like to brag. With all due respect, <em>sir</em>, I believe I’m qualified.”</p><p>He blinked in surprise, but it was quickly smothered. “Alright. Glad we cleared that up,” was all he said.</p><p>Nicole didn’t miss the way Wynonna and Waverly were trying to hide their grins, the former with less success. “She totally got you, Dolls,” Wynonna laughed.</p><p>“What’s the agenda for today?”</p><p>“You mean, besides the travelling to Kansas City?” Waverly said.</p><p>Wynonna rolled her eyes. “You’re a buzzkill, Dolls, you know that? After we get off of the phone with you, we’re gonna take Haught Shot here and make her look more like a rock star and less like the kid that got shoved into lockers for the amusement of the popular kids.”</p><p>Frowning, Nicole glanced down at her attire, not at all seeing how her simple red blouse tucked into her light blue jeans gave that impression. She shrugged, turning her attention back to Dolls just as he began to appraise her clothing.</p><p>“Do you at least have Mercedes with you?”</p><p>“She’s ahead with the roadies.”</p><p>Dolls sighed. “Of course. One of you get on a video call with her at the store.”</p><p>“Who’s Mercedes?”</p><p>Waverly glanced over at Nicole with a small smile. “She’s our fashion expert, of sorts. She makes sure there’s no wardrobe issues before we go on.”</p><p>“Uh, she’s also a literal queen,” Wynonna cut in. “Like, I’m not gay, but I’d tap that. She was also kind of my only friend back in the shithole we grew up in.”</p><p>Nicole was pretty sure that, no matter how pretty Mercedes was, Waverly would put her to shame, anytime, anywhere.</p><p>“If that’s all, Earps – and Haught, I guess – I’ve got a meeting with your marketing director. Don’t do anything I’ll have to hear about,” Dolls warned, and then ended the call.</p><p>Nicole frowned and tilted her head to the side. “He’s a ray of sunshine.”</p><p>“I told you,” Waverly giggled, getting up to throw away their empty cups and leave a tip in the tip jar. “C’mon, now, we don’t have a lot of time to waste.”</p><p>Wynonna led the way to a thrift store as Waverly fiddled with her phone, trying to call Peacemaker’s fashion expert, and Nicole lagged behind a bit with her hands in her pockets. She tried not to scuff the ground with her feet as she followed them through the parking lot, a dangerous amount of conflicting emotions threatening to burst out of her chest.</p><p>Nicole had always been a pretty calm person. She was able to take things in stride and not panic. For years, she’d taught herself how to keep her emotions in check so they didn’t inconvenience or harm anyone else. If she had learned anything from the countless sitcoms and dramas that her parents would force her to watch to keep her quiet in the car while growing up, it was that emotions were weapons. People too often hurt people they loved with them.</p><p>Nicole had decided that she was absolutely not going to be that type of person. She never let herself get away from her, which is why she felt so shitty about how she treated Waverly upon first meeting her.</p><p>They entered the thrift store, and Nicole instantly felt relaxed by the homely, almost musty smell of donated clothes inside.</p><p>“Hey Mercedes!” Waverly chirped as the video call connected.</p><p>“Waves, what’s this that Champ was saying about a new drummer? The bus was a mess all fucking day because Champ was losing his mind over not being the drummer and Rosita was getting fed up with him and I swear to God, she almost decked him, which I would’ve liked to see, but it was giving Jeremy anxiety because we’re just five people stuck in a fucking bus together. Doc almost pulled over to smack some sense into someone – I’m not sure who.”</p><p>Wynonna plucked the phone from Waverly and turned it so both she and Nicole were in the shot. “Mercedes, meet Nicole Haught. Nicole, Mercedes.”</p><p>Mercedes frowned slightly, screwing up her pretty face as she appraised her. “Could use some work,” she decided, and then gasped. “Wynonna Beverly Earp!”</p><p>“That’s not my – “</p><p>“Are you in a <em>fucking thrift store</em>?” Mercedes asked in horror, as if the very idea were offensive.</p><p>“Yup,” Wynonna popped the p. “Good finds. Plus, there wasn’t exactly a Hot Topic nearby where Shorty dropped us.”</p><p>Mercedes huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Whatever. I’m tired and you’re too stubborn. Anyway, new chick, I’m feeling something lacy. We’re also definitely going to need to cut your hair.”</p><p>“My hair?” Nicole repeated, her hands coming up to brush through her long locks.</p><p>“Mhm. I gotta say, I love your color. Redheads are sexy, and I’m not just saying that because I am one, but it certainly helps prove my point. But short red hair? Dangerous. Fiery. We want Earpers to masturbate to your picture.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t say I want – “</p><p>“Yes, you do. Trust me. I’ve gotta help set up, Wynonna, but find a couple looks and send me pictures. I’ll pick one and build from there.” Mercedes waved into the camera and hung up.</p><p>Wynonna cracked her knuckles and turned to Waverly. “Alright, baby girl. Go gather some accessories for our dear drummer here. I’ve got the clothing.”</p><p>Waverly raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t I do the clothing? I’ve got better taste than you.”</p><p>“You do cute. I do dangerous. Now, go.”</p><p>Waverly didn’t argue again, instead flashing Nicole a quick smile before heading to the back of the store.</p><p>The next ten minutes were spent with Nicole following Wynonna as she scoured the racks and threw several articles into the cart that Nicole was pushing. Nicole didn’t say anything, figuring that fashion was definitely <em>not</em> her area of expertise. She’d just let them do what they needed to do. After all, they had a crap ton more experience than she did.</p><p>Once Wynonna had a comfortable amount of clothing for her to try, she corralled her into a dressing room. Nicole hesitated when Wynonna followed her inside and locked the door behind her.</p><p>“Well, what are you waiting for?” Wynonna asked impatiently. “We’re both girls. Take off your damn shirt.”</p><p>“Fine,” Nicole sighed, and did as asked.</p><p>Wynonna’s eyes went wide, and it took all of Nicole’s willpower to suppress a smug smirk. “Haught damn,” Wynonna whistled. “With your conservative clothing, I’d have never guessed you’d have a hot bod underneath. Like, holy fucking <em>muscles</em>. Are those natural?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “We’ve gotta display those abs. Holy fuck.”</p><p>“Not gay, huh?” Nicole teased, failing to keep the smirk down any longer.</p><p>“Nah. Just impressed. Maybe you won’t completely ruin Peacemaker, huh?”</p><p>Nicole rolled her eyes and didn’t honor that with a response.</p><p>She tried on several outfits, some of which didn’t look half bad. Part of Nicole was actually somewhat excited about getting to dress up – she’d never done much of it before. Each new outfit she appraised in the mirror made her feel like she was looking at a completely different person, and that only added to the dizzying mountain of emotions getting locked away in her chest.</p><p>She tried dark clothing and light clothing, the former of which they had agreed was preferable. She tried skin-tight jeans and short skirts and shirts that really looked more like overglorified bras than actual shirts. Clothes she’d never even dreamed about wearing, let alone possibly owning and wearing out in public. Performing in.</p><p>“I think that’s the one,” Wynonna said on their seventh try. It was a lacy dark blue thin-strapped top that hung loosely over half of her stomach, showing off the toned muscles in her abdomen and arms. The top was perfect – the only thing they were unsure about was the tight, ass-cupping white jeans.</p><p>Wynonna took a picture and sent it to Mercedes, who responded within a minute. “Hot,” Wynonna read the text out loud. “Go for ripped black jeans though.”</p><p>Nicole dug through their pile of rejects and quickly changed into the fitting pair. She glanced in the mirror. “Yeah, that looks better.”</p><p>“Mercedes approves, which means it’s good enough. Waves,” she called. “You outside with the accessories?”</p><p>“Yeah!”</p><p>Wynonna opened the door, letting Waverly stumble in with arms full of potentials. Waverly straightened up and froze, staring at Nicole. Her mouth had dropped open slightly, and Nicole grinned, shoving her hands back into the pockets of her new jeans.</p><p>“Earth to Waverly? I know, she’s toned as fuck, but Mercedes has, like, a laundry list of shit for us to look into, so we gotta finish up here.”</p><p>Waverly shook her head, blushing lightly and muttering something under her breath. She took a couple of gold bangles she’d found and slipped them over Nicole’s left hand. “I think gold’s your color. It compliments your hair,” she explained.</p><p>Waverly Earp just told her that she had a color. Nicole thought she might die a happy woman, right then and there.</p><p>After digging through her pile some more, Waverly found a pair of leather, fingerless gloves and handed those over. “To protect your hands. And they look cool, so two birds with one stone.” She took a moment to wrestle cowboy-looking white boots onto Nicole’s feet before returning to the pile and grinning. “And now… The <em>pièce de résistance</em>. Something I found that I think will completely tie it all together, not to mention look flirty and sexy as hell.”</p><p>Nicole didn’t know what she was expecting, but when Waverly dropped a simple white Stetson hat onto her head, she had to admit that that wasn’t it. She blinked in surprise, allowing Waverly to turn her back to the mirror. Waverly collected her hair and held most of it behind her head, trying her best to simulate the haircut that would surely come. Beside them, Wynonna let out a low whistle.</p><p>“Now, that’s an outfit that would work in Peacemaker. The rest of you needs a bit of touch-up, but your outfit is good.”</p><p>“Touch-up?” Nicole asked, looking sideways at Wynonna as Waverly started putting her hair into different styles and studying how each one looked.</p><p>“Yup. You’re gonna need to stop… <em>this</em>,” Wynonna said, gesturing half-assedly.</p><p>“But you just gestured to all of me.”</p><p>Wynonna sighed and gave a solemn nod. “I know. You’ve mostly gotta get that giant pickle out of your ass. No one wants to hang with a stickler.”</p><p>The next stop, after Nicole changed back into her regular clothes and they paid for everything that had made the final look, was the hair salon. The hairdresser who placed her appointment was starstruck upon seeing who she was with, and most of the time waiting for there to be an empty chair was spent with Wynonna and Waverly signing every scrap of paper in sight for almost every person in the salon.</p><p>Fleetingly, Nicole wondered if people would ask for <em>her</em> autograph once she was performing. Her heart fluttered nervously in her chest, and she shook the thought out of her mind.</p><p>While Nicole had had no say in the cutting of her hair, she had to admit that it looked good once it was done. She stared into the mirror for a minute, turning her head this way and that, before nodding to the hairdresser. “It’s fine,” she said.</p><p>“Fine?” scoffed Waverly as they were walking back out towards the tour bus. “Mercedes was right. Short hair looks good on you.”</p><p>Nicole wasn’t able to hold back the smile or the blush, so she just sped up a bit to hide them. “Clothes gotten and hair cut. Are we done?” she asked Wynonna.</p><p>“Nope. Clothes and hair are one thing, Red, but to be a rock star, you’re gonna need some tattoos and some piercings.”</p><p>Nicole stopped abruptly, causing both Earp sisters to stop as well. “No. I’m drawing the line,” Nicole stated. “You can dress me up like a stripper. You can force me to look like a slut. You can cut my hair. I don’t give a fuck about any of that. I’m not marring my body. I’m not. Maybe it’s a, as you say, pickle up my ass, but I rather like it up there.”</p><p>Wynonna clenched her jaw, her nostrils flaring. She took a step closer and raised a finger rudely, but didn’t get any farther before Waverly intercepted her.</p><p>“Nona! Go back to the bus. I’ll talk to her,” she murmured. Wynonna hesitated, glaring at Nicole for daring to defy her when she was already on such thin fucking ice, but eventually decided to listen to Waverly and stalked back to where Shorty was waiting.</p><p>Nicole met Waverly’s soft gaze and shook her head. “If I do this, Waverly, there’s no going back,” she confessed.</p><p>“I know,” Waverly agreed, reaching out and brushing back a stray strand of Nicole’s hair that was clinging to her cheek. “It’s fucking scary, I know. I was terrified, too. It wasn’t so bad, though, when I got a tattoo. I don’t have as many as Wynonna, just the one, and it’s on my shoulder blade, but it wasn’t so bad. You don’t have to do anything. I won’t make you do anything. I know this is scary, because I’ve been there, too. But I think at least some earrings would look nice on you. Piercings aren’t as permanent as tattoos because you can take them out. We won’t do anything unless you want to, just… Just think about it, okay?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>We get to see Nicole's first performance next week, guys, so... Get excited. By the way, we WILL see more of Waverly's point of view in the future. I'm just sticking with Nicole right now for the most part because she's new to the situation, and so are y'all. You guys can experience being in a band vicariously through her!</p><p>Seriously, though, thanks for all of the comments and kudos - they make my day. And thanks to my beta, Mvphoenix, as always. Oh, and did I mention we'll get to see one of Peacemaker's songs next chapter? Written by Mvphoenix, of course!</p><p>Since I'm a needy, attention-starved bitch, I do need y'all to keep commenting and leaving kudos and giving your feedback if you want to see me post chapter five next week. See y'all then :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Haught Shot</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was one in the morning when Peacemaker’s tour bus arrived at the hotel in Kansas City. Dolls had gone ahead and booked a third single-bed room so that Nicole could enjoy her own privacy. While it wasn’t something she had been necessarily concerned about, she was glad for it when it came time for her to retire to her own bed with no one around.</p><p>She liked the Earp sisters, a lot – well, one of them, anyway – but it was only Tuesday morning (Monday night?). Last Tuesday, she’d been eating microwave noodles in her dorm room while stressing over her psychology exam coming up. Today… Today, she was hundreds of miles away, trying to sleep in a strange hotel bed, with a day jampacked with rehearsal and, oh yeah, <em>performing live in front of thousands of people</em> ahead of her.</p><p>Calamity Jane finally finished her examination of the hotel room and jumped up onto the bed, meowing impatiently. At least that hadn’t changed, Nicole thought, even if everything else had. She supposed she should be grateful that the hotel allowed her to pay extra to keep her cat in her room, but mostly, she was just tired and anxious.</p><p>Even the soothing feel of Calamity’s purr as she settled herself on Nicole’s chest couldn’t completely chase the fear gripping her for the coming evening.</p><p>“What am I doing?” Nicole whispered to no one in particular. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on taking deep breaths, but no matter how tired she was – and goddammit, she <em>was</em> tired – sleep was too cruel to welcome her, instead fancying watching as she drowned in her tidal wave of emotions, not dissimilar to the ones that consumed her as a child.</p><p>The difference was, now she didn’t have anything to distract herself with. Nowhere to direct the emotions. Twenty years, and she still sure as hell didn’t know what to do with them. Ignoring them always worked before, she thought.</p><p>With a tired huff, she moved a grumbling Calamity off of her and made her way into the small bathroom connected to her hotel room. She took a good, hard look in the mirror, uncertain as to whether she liked the face looking back at her.</p><p>Her fingers itched to toy with the fresh piercings in her ears, or the brand new stud in her left nostril (something she still couldn’t quite believe she’d gotten), but she remembered the orders to try to avoid touching them as much as possible lest she risk infection. Instead, she squirted saline solution at them and dabbed ever so gently with a soft towelette, if only to give her hands something to do. To feel like she wasn’t completely and utterly useless.</p><p>Nicole wasn’t the most introspective person, but she thought that maybe the reason why she caved and got the simple stud was because she was tired of living in the future.</p><p>When that was exhausted, she settled down on her bed with her laptop and, before she could talk herself out of it, sent the video call request.</p><p>“Nicole Rayleigh Haught, you better be sick, dead, or dying. What the <em>fuck</em> are you calling me in the middle of the night for?”</p><p>In spite of everything, she smiled wide upon seeing his scruffy, round face. “Hey there, Nedley. Been a while.”</p><p>He rubbed sleep out of his bleary eyes and then leaned in close to the camera, squinting. “A couple years, I reckon. You’re not my Nicole. You cut your hair all short, and – heavens above, is that a <em>nose ring</em>? What did you do with my Nicole?”</p><p>She glanced down sheepishly, rubbing her hands on her sheets to keep from messing with the simple red stud. “I, uh… I failed college, Coach,” she admitted quietly.</p><p>“Shit…”</p><p>“Yeah. They told me on Saturday. The scholarship committee realized I had no real plans to continue in basketball, and they revoked my scholarship.”</p><p>“So, all this is… what? Some sort of rebellious getup?” he gestured towards the camera.</p><p>She cleared her throat, still avoiding his gaze. “Not exactly,” she answered in a high-pitched voice.</p><p>“Haught, you look me in the eyes and you talk to me, you hear? I never took this insubordinate shit from you, and I sure as hell ain’t gonna start now.”</p><p>“Yes, sir,” she said immediately, her eyes snapping up to the screen. “My bad, Coach. Won’t happen again.” Yet, she couldn’t hide the way that, when she met his eyes through the screen, her face crumpled. She tried to keep it normal, but her damn lower lip just kept quivering as the dam broke and that terrifying tidal wave came for her.</p><p>“Nicole.” His voice was softer now. “Don’t lose yourself. Take a deep breath. Take as much time as you need.”</p><p>She nodded numbly, turning her gaze upwards as if to keep any prickling tears back so they wouldn’t spill down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, like he had told her. She swallowed hard before lowering her gaze again, feeling a bit more in control now. “Do you remember that I was in the marching and concert bands, Coach? Do you remember the percussion competitions I went to?”</p><p>“’Course I do. Especially when you missed basketball or track practice for ‘em. You always had too much you were doing at any one time.”</p><p>“Yeah, well, keeping busy was keeping calm,” she sighed. “Anyway, have you heard of the band Peacemaker? Super popular, on tour right now?”</p><p>He furrowed his brow and gave his head a small shake. “Chrissy’s mentioned them once or twice, but what does that got to do with you?”</p><p>“I’m their new drummer,” she breathed out in a rush, and then pulled her lips to one side.</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>She gave a shaky laugh, running a hand through her newly cut hair. “Yeah. I met the guitarist on Saturday morning, went to a concert Sunday night, and then… Things kind of spiraled. The thing is, I still don’t know what I’m doing or how I’m possibly going to perform in eighteen hours in front of hordes and hordes of people. I mean, what if I mess up? I don’t even <em>know</em> any of Peacemaker’s songs yet, I couldn’t even name three of them off the top of my head if you asked me to. I’m dealing with failing college and starting up this new, <em>very different</em> lifestyle, and I just don’t know how much longer I can do this while not knowing anything.”</p><p>Her voice cracked by the end, and she took a moment to wryly think about how Nedley was the only person who she had ever been able to open up to like that. He scratched at his jaw and watched her for a minute as she regained her breath.</p><p>“Nicole,” he said quietly. “Do you remember the championship basketball game of your junior year?”</p><p>“Of course, yeah. It sucked.”</p><p>“It was a close game with TRHS. We were neck and neck the entire time. There was twenty seconds on the clock, but they were ahead. You just had to make both of your penalty throws. It wasn’t a hard thing to ask of my star player.”</p><p>She scowled and picked at a loose thread on her sleep shirt. “But I fumbled the second one. I made the first shot, and I fumbled the second one. We lost because I fumbled. What’s your point?”</p><p>“We lost because you let your nerves get to you. If you hadn’t been scared, we both know you would have made that shot, easy. You let the pressure get to you. You may have looked calm and collected. Deep down, you were anything but.”</p><p>With a sigh, she hung her head. “You’re telling me not to let the nerves get to me,” she muttered.</p><p>He nodded patiently. “You know you can do it, Haught. <em>If</em> this is what you want to do. Just go out there and do it.”</p><p>“Thanks, Coach,” she whispered, lifting her head and giving him a true, genuine smile. “You always seem to know what to say.”</p><p>Nedley huffed. “Call me again at this hour, Haught, and I don’t give a damn <em>where</em> you are, I’ll snap your skinny neck before you can say ‘sorry’,” he warned.</p><p>She grinned crookedly and gave him a mock salute.</p><p>“Wrong hand.”</p><p>…She gave him a mock salute with her other hand. “You got it, sir. Thanks, you know… For everything. I’m not sure where I’d be if you didn’t find me smashing shit and told me to put my strength to good use.”</p><p>“Don’t get all mushy, now,” he grunted. “But you’re welcome.” He ended the call without any more ceremony than that.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A knock on her hotel room door woke Nicole up at around seven. She groaned, shoving Calamity Jane off of her face and dragging herself out of bed. She was still rubbing at one of her eyes when she opened the door without checking the peephole.</p><p>There was a man and a woman on the other side, the latter looking <em>far</em> more awake than the former. “Good morning!” she said as she slid past Nicole, into the room. She set a bag down on the table. “I’m Rosita, this is Jeremy, when he wakes up anyway. We’re two of the roadies for Peacemaker.”</p><p>Nicole blinked a couple of times in confusion, mildly irritated that she had only gotten about five hours of sleep. She opened the bag that had been tossed onto the table, frowning at the contents. “Vanilla dip donuts?” she asked.</p><p>“They’re Waverly’s favorite. Kind of Champ’s go-to.”</p><p>Nicole’s nose wrinkled a little bit at the mention of the boy-man that Waverly was unfortunately involved with. “Champ?” she nearly spat the name out without meaning to.</p><p>“Ah, you’ve met,” Rosita noted with a smirk. “He’s essentially the refreshments-grabber of us roadies. He also sometimes helps me out with the heavy-lifting, but he’s pretty weak.”</p><p>“Why are you… in my hotel room? No offense, I just mean that, like… I wasn’t expecting anyone?”</p><p>Finally, Jeremy spoke up, having stepped inside and leaned against the wall. “We’ve gotta prep you for tonight. Set up your entrance and the amps and stuff,” he said, smothering a yawn.</p><p>“My… entrance?”</p><p>“Onto the stage, during the concert? I already have a few ideas,” Rosita explained.</p><p>“Unfortunately, they also require tech help,” Jeremy grumbled.</p><p>“And so, I woke up our resident tech guy. Are you ready?”</p><p>Nicole glanced between them in a mixture of excitement, exhaustion, and bewilderment. She eventually shook her head slowly and lifted her shoulders in a helpless shrug. “I guess so?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Wynonna was distracted.</p><p>It wasn’t hard to see. Waverly strummed a few chords on her guitar, warming it up, and she could see the faraway look in Wynonna’s eyes as she stared at the drum set, which had been transported to their rehearsal area after Jeremy and Rosita had helped Nicole with it earlier in the morning.</p><p>Waverly couldn’t say she blamed Wynonna for being upset about Nicole’s initiation into Peacemaker. She glanced towards the door of the rehearsal room that the company in Kansas City had provided for them. Nicole was still working with the roadies on how she was going to introduce herself to the crowd, so they probably had at least fifteen minutes before she’d show up to rehearsal. That was enough time, she thought.</p><p>“Hey,” she sighed, putting her guitar gently on its stand. She stepped over the amp cords to get to Wynonna and put an arm around her shoulders. “It’s gonna be okay.”</p><p>Wynonna moved her head slightly but kept her eyes resolutely on the drum set. “That’s Willa’s drum set,” she said quietly. “Only Willa should use it.”</p><p>Nodding, Waverly slowly began to rub Wynonna’s arm with her free hand. “I know. I miss her, too, but Willa’s gone, Wynonna. We can’t just… We can’t let it stop us. Do you remember when she came barreling back into our lives?”</p><p>“Of course,” Wynonna gave a choked laugh. “She’d been gone for years. She came back, heard me singing in the shower, and said we should start a band.”</p><p>“Well, demanded it, really.”</p><p>“Yeah, she was like that… When she heard you had mad guitar skills, she only got more adamant. I felt so stupid that I’d never thought about it before.”</p><p>Waverly rested her head against her sister’s shoulder and let her eyes fall shut. “I miss her, too,” she repeated.</p><p>Wynonna sniffled and pulled away, wiping furiously at her eyes. She’d never been one to deal with her emotions. “Bitch just had to up and die on us, not even a year later… What were you thinking, Waverly? Replacing her?”</p><p>Waverly was quiet for a moment, crossing her arms over her chest. There were a lot of reasons why she had invited Nicole to join the band. Even now, she didn’t think she’d made the wrong decision. Even if she had forced Wynonna to agree to it. Something about the tall, kind redhead just gave Waverly pause.</p><p>What was it that Curtis had once said to her? Sometimes, when you hit rock bottom, the only thing that can bring you up is an angel. Waverly didn’t fancy herself any sort of angel, but it had seemed to her, sitting in that coffee shop, that the anxious student about to fail university was definitely headed for rock bottom. When she saw the photo in the wallet that Nicole had left behind, she had thought it to be too perfect to be a coincidence.</p><p>“Nicole isn’t replacing Willa,” she said slowly. “No one can replace Willa. All Nicole is doing is joining Peacemaker. Come on, Wynonna. She already looks the part, and once Rosita is through with her, she’ll act the part, too. Give her a chance.”</p><p>Wynonna opened her mouth to say something else, but then the door to the rehearsal room opened. Rosita strode in, Nicole shuffling behind.</p><p>“I present, your drummer,” Rosita announced with a flourish. “She’s prepped and ready for the concert tonight. All she needs is to learn the songs, and that’s on you guys.”</p><p>Nicole stepped up to the drum set with a nervous smile, and Waverly couldn’t help but grin back at her.</p><p>“Alright, Haughtstuff,” Wynonna sighed, situating her microphone before her. “I guess it’s time to see what you’re made of, isn’t it?”</p><p>Waverly took a deep breath to steady any nerves. She had learned long ago to treat a rehearsal like she would a performance – it made the actual performance seem easier. She picked up her guitar again, slinging the strap over her shoulder, and stepped into place. “You were doing a good job improvising a beat back in Tucson,” she told Nicole. “Our old drummer kind of did the same thing. She never let me transcribe her part. We’ll play a couple of songs, and then some recordings of what she would do. No matter what happens during the performance, act like you meant it, okay?”</p><p>Nicole nodded from the stool behind the drum set, fingerless gloves on her hands and drumsticks already in her grasp.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The stage was a lot warmer than Nicole had been expecting. Or maybe that was just her nerves, she wasn’t sure. She was down below the stage right now, waiting for her cue to rise up out of the floor of the stage on a lift. Although she wasn’t on the stage yet, she had felt the warmth earlier, when they had taken their rehearsal onto it for the sound check.</p><p>That was three hours ago. Her drum set was already on the stage. Waverly had gone up on another lift, on the other side of the stage, a few minutes ago. The gunshot had already rung out across the stadium. Right about now, Wynonna should be swinging in on her rope.</p><p>Jeremy had walked Nicole through all of the technicalities of the performance – the way the lights moved and repositioned, how they’d snap onto her as she rose up. The way that Wynonna was actually latched onto the rope by the fake ammo belt she wore, and when she landed, she stealthily unclipped it and someone from the catwalk reeled it in. The way that the gunshot was created using a soundboard, reassuring her that there wasn’t actually a gun being fired.</p><p>She anxiously adjusted her outfit, pulling her gloves a little tighter on and readjusting the straps of her top. Her heart was fluttering something awful in her chest, and her stomach had twisted itself into knots. Not for the first time, she wondered whether or not she could even <em>do</em> this. The only thing keeping her rooted to her spot was Nedley’s gruff, thick voice from their video meeting. He was the only person who had ever believed in her until Waverly Earp, and she was determined not to let either of them down.</p><p>“Alright, fuckers, you know me. I’d love to get started playing awesome music for you guys to orgasm to,” Wynonna’s voice was saying above. “Today’s gonna be a bit different, though. In fact, everything’s gonna be a bit different from now on.”</p><p>“And you, Kansas City, are just special enough to be the first ones to witness it,” Waverly chimed in.</p><p>Wynonna’s laugh rang out through the stadium. Even from her spot underneath the stage, Nicole could hear the crowd’s confused and thrilled murmurs. “Get ready, Earpers, cause Peacemaker just got a little bit bigger.”</p><p>That was her cue.</p><p>The trapdoor on the stage opened, Jeremy flicked a switch, and the lift that Nicole was on slowly began to rise. Her heart was beating loud enough in her ears that she was just barely able to make out Mercedes and Jeremy wishing her luck.</p><p>It was showtime.</p><p>Nicole plastered a cocky smirk on her face as she rose up onto the stage. “Is it Haught in here, or is it just me?” she purred into the mic before her. The crowd was silent for all of two seconds before it exploded into a thundering roar of cheers and screams. It occurred to Nicole that they were cheering for <em>her</em> and she broke out into a huge, toothy grin.</p><p>“Hey, Earpers!” she called, taking the mic from its stand and stepping forward so they could get a better look at her. She went over Rosita’s advice about her next lines in her head. They hadn’t scripted it, Rosita saying she wanted Nicole to introduce herself her own way.</p><p><em>Be relatable, </em>Rosita had said. <em>Be cool.</em></p><p>Nicole had thought that she was neither of those things, but standing on the stage, mere paces between Wynonna and Waverly Earp, she was starting to feel that maybe this was the real deal. It seemed silly, but it hadn’t felt completely real until now.</p><p>“I’m Nicole Haught, I’m from all over the States, and I’m gay as fuck!” she shouted into the crowd, and if she thought they couldn’t get any louder, they proved her wrong. Waverly was beaming, and Wynonna even looked a little impressed.</p><p>“On that note…” Wynonna said, and then pointed to Waverly to start up the first song.</p><p>Nicole ran over to the drum set and nearly jumped over it to take her seat. She joined in immediately, playing the rhythm she had come up with before for this song – Peacemaker’s first (but definitely not last) big hit.</p><p>“<em>This town, they called me crazy</em>,” Wynonna sang.</p><p>“<em>Fed me meds until my mind grew hazy</em></p><p>
  <em>Spent so long running away</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But maybe this is it, maybe today’s the day</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Sick of living my life in fear</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cause I’m still right fucking here</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Tired of being misunderstood</em>
</p><p><em>Done doing things just because I should.</em>”</p><p> </p><p>Nicole inserted a little lick with the high hat just before the song hit the chorus, making it stand out even more.</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>“Because I’ve got demons, yeah</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Have a soul that needs redeeming</em>
</p><p>
  <em>So I’m going to come in guns ablaze</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Come witness the hell that I will raise.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They played through dozens of songs, and by the end, Nicole’s arms ached, but she was too hyped up on adrenaline to notice. They shouted their goodbyes to the screaming crowd and then bounded backstage, all three of them grinning from ear to ear.</p><p>When Nicole collapsed against Waverly, trembling arms wrapped around her, Waverly was only just able to recover in time to keep them both from falling backwards into the wall. “Hey,” she said softly, rubbing at Nicole’s shoulders. “Hey, is everything okay?”</p><p>Wynonna spared them one glance before shrugging and following Mercedes to the afterparty. Waverly wasn’t at all surprised by that, even if Wynonna had seemed somewhat content with how Nicole had entered and performed.</p><p>Nicole shook her head and tried to say something, but her voice betrayed her and her throat closed up. She was five foot ten, a hundred and forty pounds of muscle, and twenty-one years old, but for that moment, she felt like she was no more than a kid, clinging desperately to the old man that had given her half of his sub at the sandwich shop because her parents sure as hell couldn’t be bothered to feed her themselves.</p><p>Waverly adjusted the two of them and guided Nicole over to a more secluded spot, waiting until Nicole had the courage to pull back. “Are you okay?” she asked with nothing but concern in her eyes when Nicole finally did break the embrace.</p><p>But Nicole was smiling from ear to ear. Tears shone in her eyes, unshed. “<em>Thank you</em>,” she said, her voice hardly more than a whisper.</p><p>Immediately, a grin split Waverly’s face, too. She reached down and took Nicole’s hand, lacing their fingers together, “Come on, Haughtstuff,” she teased with a wink. “Let’s get to that afterparty.”</p><p>It was all Nicole could do to nod dumbly and let herself be led away.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A couple sat at a table in a diner in Northern Montana, taking a rest from their late-night travelling in their ’92 Honda Accord. The woman was tapping away on her phone while her husband flipped idly through a magazine. It was a scene they’d seen before, and they both agreed that it was far more comfortable with just the two of them.</p><p>They weren’t the most engaged citizens, especially not since their release from their respective prisons four years prior, but Paisley still flipped through the news so that she could rant about the utter stupidity of people to her husband.</p><p>“Hey, Tony?” she piped up, pausing to take a drag from her cigarette. The waitress had long since given up trying to get her to go outside.</p><p>“Yeah?” came the rough reply.</p><p>“What is it that the ungrateful brat’s calling herself nowadays?”</p><p>He glanced up from the magazine, raising one red eyebrow at his wife, as if trying to figure out whether she was really asking about what he thought she was. “Why do you want to talk about her?” he countered with a noise of disgust.</p><p>“Just tell me,” Paisley sighed.</p><p>Tony shook his head and scratched at his jaw. “I don’t know. Some big, bureaucratic name. I didn’t really pay attention.”</p><p>She licked her lips in thought, still staring at the article she had pulled up on her phone. The article about a famous band gaining a new drummer. “Does Nicole sound about right?” she asked.</p><p>“Yeah, that could be it. Why? What’s that disastrous bitch done now? Get herself killed?” he suggested with a glimmer of hope in his voice.</p><p>Slowly, his wife’s lips curled into a near-predatory smirk. “Better,” she promised. “She got herself <em>famous</em>.”</p><p>His mouth twitched, thin lips pursing in thought. After a moment, he slapped his thigh and let out a great, bellowing laugh, joined quickly by his wife. “Well, how about that?”</p><p>Across the diner, a tall, thin man in a fur coat was brewing over a steaming cup of coffee. The very same article was pulled up on his phone, and he narrowed his eyes dangerously at it. One hand came up to stroke his beard – brown with one patch dyed white on the left side of his face.</p><p>He took his piercing gaze away from his phone to glare down into his cup.</p><p>“Well, how about that, indeed?” he mused quietly.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>My beta had to talk me out of posting this on Saturday because it would screw up my posting schedule beyond recognition and if that doesn't describe how much I love you guys and how excited I am for this chapter than I don't know what does.</p><p>Also, HUGE shoutout to my beta, Mvphoenix, this chapter for not only beta'ing and listening to my ranting about the fic, but writing the song lyrics that were featured in it!</p><p>Comments make my day better and they make me happier, and we all know that sad authors who don't get comments don't write, so y'all should probably comment... And leave kudos... Because I love you and I want you guys to prove that you love me too.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. The Afterparty</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Before the concert, Nicole had made the decision not to go to the afterparty. It was her debut in Peacemaker, and she was pretty sure she wouldn’t know what to do with herself. Besides, she had never really been into parties. Back in school, the other kids would obsess over every party held at a popular kid’s house, asking every single person they knew whether they were going or not. It was a bit exhausting, especially on days that Nicole would prefer to stay at home in her one-bedroom apartment and watch Golden Girls with a bowl of pistachio ice cream. Baskin Robbins was her bitch, and she definitely spent more money there than she should have.</p><p>She did end up going to a few of the parties, if only to see what the hype was about. While she never strictly had someone she’d call a close friend, she had unintentionally drifted about different social groups and cliques throughout her school years. They’d all think she was very interesting until they bored of her and another group would suck her in for a month or two. More than once, Jackson Morris tried to convince her to actually host a party at her apartment, since she ‘didn’t have any stupid parents to ruin it with rules or breakable stuff’.</p><p>The day he actually said that was the day she became a legend at her high school for being the first girl to make the star football player cry. She got suspended for a week, detention for a month thereafter, and she nearly broke her knuckles, but, well –</p><p>It was worth it.</p><p>She remembered the day that she actually attended one of Jackson’s parties. His parents were out of town for the weekend and unaware of the party, so it was all kept on the down-low. He had even prepaid a professional cleaning crew to take care of the mess the following morning.</p><p>Shot after shot was put in front of her, and people chanted her name as she downed them. It wasn’t pleasant, but she allowed it. She participated. She waited for the moment it would click, like ‘ah, yes, I see why people like this now’. It didn’t come. She got shit-faced drunk, to the point of which she couldn’t even properly work the key in the door to her apartment and ended up curling up and sleeping just outside of it. It was only fair that she woke up with her wallet raided and a few bills lighter.</p><p>This felt a little like then, she thought. Sitting on a lounge in a club, being blinded by the flashing blue and pink lights. She was simply allowing things to happen. That’s why she came. Because Waverly brought her, and she <em>allowed</em> it. Not that she was mad, because she wasn’t! She mostly just felt… numb. And buzzed from the shots she’d taken already. And maybe a little good with the way the blonde situated on her lap was kissing her neck.</p><p>Wynonna was laying back on the other side of the couch, surrounded by her own pair of groupies who were hooked onto every word she said.</p><p>“And then that bitch had the <em>audacity</em> to tell me to get a butt lift. A butt lift! Me! Can you believe that?” she was ranting to no one in particular.</p><p>Nicole scrunched her nose and turned her head slightly to give Wynonna a look of shock. “Nuh-uh,” she said. “Are you kidding me? Your ass is like…” she paused, picturing the brunette’s ass in her tight leather pants. “It’s top shelf, man. It’s top shelf,” she decided.</p><p>Which… It kinda was. Wynonna had a rather sculpted ass. That wasn’t a thought she’d have were she sober, but she was pretty tipsy at this point, and so, she let herself think about Wynonna’s top-shelf, tight ass and Waverly’s gentler, almost sweeter ass.</p><p><em>Really, pervert?</em> The only sober part of her brain argued, and she realized that it had a point.</p><p>“Thank you!” Wynonna cried. One of the groupies purred something low and quiet, too quiet for Nicole to hear.</p><p>Her own groupie was getting a bit more pushy, pawing at Nicole as she sucked on her earlobe. It felt good, but Nicole found her eyes wandering around the club, looking for the <em>other</em> gorgeous brunette in Peacemaker.</p><p>She almost wished she hadn’t when she noticed Champ pushing Waverly against a wall, practically suffocating the poor girl. She groaned and turned her head away, the blonde on her lap taking it as encouragement and shifting to better straddle her.</p><p>“Why does your sister stick with that sack of five-inch wrinkled old man dicks?”</p><p>Wynonna burst out laughing and shook her head at Nicole’s spontaneous (and admittedly, involuntary) question. “What, you mean Chump?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“<em>Well</em>,” Wynonna said, dragging out the word. “While I think Chump’s a certified shit ticket as well, Waves likes him, for some godforsaken reason. They’ve been together for five years now. He’s also the only person she’s been with, like, ever. I don’t know, Haught.”</p><p>Nicole tilted her head to the side, giving the blonde better access to her pulse point. “I think,” she started slowly, mulling over her words as she said them, “that Waverly has spent her whole life tailoring who she is to the people she’s with. She’s only just beginning to figure out what it is she really wants.”</p><p>“Dude, you’re like a walking bumper sticker,” Wynonna shot her a dirty look. “I can’t believe I’m actually stuck with you on the bus twenty four seven now.”</p><p>“Sometimes, you can find friends in unexpected places,” Nicole pointed out.</p><p>“Okay, yeah, keep it up and I’ll definitely be jumping out a window one of these days.”</p><p>Nicole laughed and shook her head, kicking out one of her feet to nudge Wynonna’s side. She opened her mouth to say something else – something purposefully corny – but was interrupted by a voice from behind the couch.</p><p>“You must be Miss Haught,” the man said as he rounded the lounge and took a seat on the coffee table. He was objectively a handsome guy, with a sleek black cowboy hat on his head and a far-too-bushy mustache crowding his upper lip. “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure,” he extended his hand.</p><p>Her fuzzy brain worked to process him as she took his hand cautiously but firmly. “I’d think not. You’re not my type.”</p><p>“I’m everyone’s type,” he promised with a wink. “But I heard, it’s my sex that turns you off. May I just say, though, that you are a monster on those drums, darling.”</p><p>“Call me ‘darling’ again, and your balls are going to have a very bad day.”</p><p>Wynonna laughed loudly as the man tried – and failed – to hide a wince. “Duly noted. I am John Henry Holliday, but I go by Doc,” he introduced himself.</p><p>“Doc… You’re one of the roadies, aren’t you?” she asked, remembering Mercedes’ rant the previous day.</p><p>“I am, indeed. I drive the roadie bus, and I’ll help with set-up where I’m needed.”</p><p>She made a noise of understanding in the back of her throat. Once again, the blonde on her lap began to get handsy, but this time, Nicole found it more annoying than alluring. She placed her hands on the blonde’s waist and eased her onto the couch next to her. “I’m done, thank you,” she said politely.</p><p>“Anytime, love,” the blonde replied with a sultry wink before slipping off into the crowd.</p><p>Doc cleared his throat and addressed the both of them with a nod. “Anyway, I hate to interrupt what must be a lovely night so far, but Rosita insisted we all get together – Peacemaker and the roadies – and we get to know our newest member.”</p><p>“Not much to know,” Nicole sighed as she rubbed at the wet spot on her neck.</p><p>“Now, I sincerely doubt that that’s true.”</p><p>Wynonna thought it over, and then shrugged. “Fine. As long as there’s booze.”</p><p>“That can be arranged,” Doc agreed with a grin.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It turned out, Doc was pretty good at rounding up the entirety of Peacemaker. Champ had been reluctant to stop kissing his girlfriend, but Waverly stood up to him and firmly pushed him away so they could join everyone else. Within fifteen minutes, they were all gathered in Rosita’s hotel room.</p><p>Wynonna, Waverly, Nicole, Doc, Mercedes, Rosita, Jeremy, and Champ.</p><p>Peacemaker wasn’t so big and scary when it came down to it.</p><p>“Alright, bitches, we’re gonna play one of the most cliché high school games I can think of,” Rosita announced as she arranged them into a circle. “Never have I ever.”</p><p>“Pass,” Champ said, starting to get up. Waverly grabbed his arm and pulled him back down with an irritated roll of her eyes.</p><p>Wynonna reached over Doc’s lap to punch his shoulder. “C’mon, wimp, if I’m gonna play this boring-ass game, then you are, too.”</p><p>Rosita grinned as she poured a beer for each of them and handed the glasses out. “The rules are pretty simple. When it’s your turn, you say ‘never have I ever…’ and then say something you have, or haven’t done. Usually something you haven’t. Hence the name of the game. Everyone in the circle who <em>has</em> done that has to take a drink.”</p><p>“Question,” Mercedes said, raising her hand. “Is targeting allowed?”</p><p>“Oh, it’s encouraged!”</p><p>The look Mercedes gave everyone else in the group was damn near predatory.</p><p>Rosita sat down between Jeremy and Mercedes, crossing her legs underneath her. “I’ll go first. Never have I ever performed in front of thousands of people.”</p><p>“That’s a dirty way to start,” Wynonna complained, but took a drink from her beer anyway.</p><p>Nicole leaned over to Waverly, who was sat on her right side, and whispered, “How many people were at the concert tonight?”</p><p>“Definitely thousands,” Waverly laughed, gesturing for Nicole to raise her glass. They clinked them together before each taking a drink.</p><p>“Never have I ever gotten a tattoo,” Mercedes said next, causing Wynonna, Waverly, Rosita, Champ, and Doc to all lift their glasses.</p><p>Wynonna thought about hers for a second before flashing Doc and Champ devilish grins. “Never have I ever had a girlfriend.”</p><p>“Now, that is just mean,” Doc told her as he took a drink.</p><p>When Nicole lifted her own glass to her lips, Wynonna sent her a strange look. “Holy shit, Haughtstuff. I completely forgot about your whole ‘gay as fuck’ thing. Wow. Three birds with one stone, then, I guess.”</p><p>Nicole rolled her eyes and lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug.</p><p>“What was her name?” Waverly pressed with a teasing smirk.</p><p>“Shae. That’s all I’m gonna say about it.”</p><p> “What, no juicy details? Come on, Nicky, give us the juice.”</p><p>“<em>Don’t</em> call me that,” Nicole sobered up enough to chastise Wynonna. “I’m not an ‘ee’ ending sort of girl.”</p><p>Doc cleared his throat to get them to move on before the two of them got into some sort of fight, since the look on Wynonna’s face was one that he knew well, and it was definitely dangerous. “Well, never have I ever had a boyfriend,” he said, to counter Wynonna.</p><p>At that, Wynonna, Waverly, Rosita, and Mercedes drank.</p><p>“Hang on, does a sort of closeted relationship count?” Jeremy asked, one finger raised in the air in question. “Because I was never really <em>out</em> with a guy, but – “</p><p>“Just drink,” Rosita interrupted, and he did.</p><p>Next, it was Champ’s turn, and he grinned cheekily. “Never have I ever been in love with Waverly Earp. Whoops, guess that’s just me,” he laughed and took a drink.</p><p>If Nicole were being honest, she would have taken a drink, too, but she had the sneaking suspicion that that wouldn’t end well. Instead, she stared down into her glass and shook her head a little. She didn’t even think she was necessarily in <em>love</em> with Waverly Earp, but she wasn’t too far in denial to admit that she at least had a bit of a crush on her.</p><p>“Never have I ever been a big sap,” Waverly shot back with a roll of her eyes. “Damn it, yes I have,” she grumbled then, lifting her glass alongside Champ, Jeremy, Doc, Mercedes, and <em>yes</em>, admittedly, Nicole.</p><p>It was Nicole’s turn then and she grinned around the group, trying to figure out if she should target anyone. Eventually she decided to take several of them down with one stone. One somewhat dirty stone. Because, you know, she was a bit buzzed and she kind of wanted to know for some of them. And it seemed to fit Peacemaker.</p><p>“Never have I ever been a bottom.”</p><p>Waverly, Jeremy, Mercedes, and Doc all took a drink.</p><p>“I’m a verse,” Doc was explaining to a hysterical Wynonna, but Nicole’s focus was on Waverly.</p><p>“Well, well, can’t say I’m surprised,” she teased, nudging her shoulder with her own.</p><p>Waverly’s cheeks turned a bit pink. “Oh, shut up,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I can be a verse, too, I bet.”</p><p>“Never have I ever been to juvy,” Jeremy said.</p><p>“Oh boy,” Nicole muttered under her breath.</p><p>No one paid attention to Wynonna or Mercedes taking a drink of their beers – everyone’s eyes zeroed in on Nicole as she brought her glass down from her face. She felt her cheeks heat up a little but purposefully coughed to play it off.</p><p>“Holy shit,” Wynonna whispered, looking at her as if she were seeing Nicole in a whole new light.</p><p>“<em>You</em>?” Waverly asked, her voice much higher-pitched than normal as she stared at Nicole.</p><p>“I need to know everything.”</p><p>Nicole scoffed. “Well, that’s not part of the game, dipshit,” she pointed out to Wynonna. “You don’t explain your answers, you just <em>answer</em>, and I answered. Now, can we move on?”</p><p>And they did. They played several more rounds to the point where most of them were definitely past tipsy. Wynonna and Doc left, giggling, and a few minutes later, Waverly and Champ left, more quiet and surreptitious about exactly what it is they’d be doing in Waverly’s hotel room. Even though everyone already knew, and quite frankly, Nicole found it disgusting and entirely unfortunate.</p><p>Nicole, for her part, excused herself shortly after and stumbled back to her room. Calamity Jane was more than happy to see her, and Nicole was more than happy to fall into bed with her personal massage machine kneading all up and down her back after feeding the hungry beast.</p><p>Her arms ached from playing the drum set for longer than she had in years, and her throat was sore from shouting at the concert, and all of the adrenaline that had flooded her unexpectedly during the performance had long since disappeared with the night, leaving her mostly just exhausted. When Calamity Jane meowed in her ear, she just let out a low hum, not having the energy to give her the attention she wanted. She had one last thought as she drifted off to the type of sleep you can only achieve after more alcohol than you probably should’ve had.</p><p><em>It’s real</em>.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The second concert in Kansas City went about the same as the first, and Nicole walked out of it with the same exhilaration as the previous night. Again, she was persuaded to go to the afterparty, though it’s important to note, she thought, that she made sure to drink far less, because the hangover she had woken up with was not something she was eager to replicate.</p><p>They spent the night after the second concert and its party in the tour bus as Shorty started driving towards their next venue in Austin, Texas. They’d arrive there in the early afternoon, Shorty had said, and have the rest of the day to themselves, since the first concert wasn’t until the day after. A somewhat tipsy Waverly had explained to Nicole that they never did two cities back-to-back, and if the drive between two locations wasn’t long enough for them to rest up, they’d get the day that they arrived off. Dolls had set up the tour dates like that because he knew how smashed the Earp girls could get every night.</p><p>Nicole was laying on the couch, having gotten fed up with the cramped position that the bunk forced her into. It was about ten o’clock in the morning, and while she was awake, she kept her eyes closed, not eager to actually get up.</p><p>The email she’d seen the previous night before going to sleep still haunted her. How her parents had managed to get her email address was beyond her, and Nicole had absolutely no intention of responding. How dare they contact her out of the blue?</p><p>She only opened her eyes to the sound of quiet shuffling next to the couch. She saw Waverly standing there awkwardly, with her arms over her chest.</p><p>“Sorry,” Waverly said quietly. “I didn’t want to wake you.”</p><p>Nicole sat up with a shrug and motioned for Waverly to sit. “You didn’t. I was already awake.”</p><p>“Why aren’t you in your bunk?”</p><p>“It’s a little small,” Nicole explained with a wry smile, gesturing to her long legs.</p><p>“Oh. S-sorry.”</p><p>They were silent for a bit after that, Nicole staring at the coffee table that was crammed in between the couch and the wall and Waverly studying her own hands as if she’d never seen them before. It was a comfortable silence, the only sound filling the air being Wynonna’s light snores. Nicole thought that they probably had at least three more hours before Wynonna woke up. Maybe they’d even reach Austin before that happened.</p><p>Waverly took in a breath as if she were going to say something, but then hesitated. Nicole shot her a curious look, trying to quietly encourage her to say what was on her mind. Waverly met her gaze, and there was something unreadable in her expression.</p><p>“Why did you go to juvy?” she asked finally. “I-I mean… You always seem so… I don’t know. Adamant on the rules? Morally good? Well, not that. Not that you aren’t morally good! Just that, I mean… I-I just meant that… You know, you seem…”</p><p>Nicole decided to rescue Waverly from her struggling. “I wasn’t always like this,” she replied in a soft tone.</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>With a sigh, Nicole ran a hand through her short hair, resisting the urge (once again) to play with the stud in her nose. It only became more tempting as days passed, but she was determined not to get an infection. She didn’t quite know how to respond. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she gave a defeated sigh and realized that there was no way around admitting it.</p><p>“I was a bad kid,” she confessed. “Like… Detention almost every day, suspension at least once every month or two. I didn’t know how to deal with… certain things, so I would act out. Sometimes, just to inconvenience my parents, I think. I don’t know. Vandalize. Break stuff.”</p><p>“Is that what got you sent to juvy?” Waverly asked gently.</p><p>“No. It was stealing a car and trying to drive away with it when I had just turned thirteen and didn’t know how to drive that got me sent to juvy. I crashed it into a tree. Car was wrecked, but besides a nasty concussion, I was fine.”</p><p>Waverly hesitated, chewing on her lower lip. She unconsciously scooted a little closer to Nicole. “Why did you do it?”</p><p>For a while, Nicole didn’t respond, merely stared at the wall with a vague expression on her face. She had tensed up, her hands balling themselves into fists at her sides. Eventually, she sighed and shook her head. “I wanted to run away. I don’t know, Waverly. Don’t ask me stuff I’m not smart enough to answer.”</p><p>“What changed?”</p><p>At that, Nicole gave a small smile, thinking back to the rotund older man who’d practically saved her. “Once I got out, a couple months later, the high school coach found me in an alleyway at night, smashing some junk that I knew didn’t belong to me. He told me that I was a better person than that, despite not knowing me, and that I should put my strength and energy to some good use. Direct it in ways that are safer and more legal. He, uh, he helped me out a lot.”</p><p>Waverly smiled, too, and it made Nicole’s heart skip a beat or two (or three). She reached out and took Nicole’s hand in one of hers, using her free one to trace Nicole’s knuckles idly. The unexpected touch caused pleasant sparks to prick Nicole’s skin, and she sincerely hoped that her face wasn’t as red as it felt. Suddenly, the smile dropped off of Waverly’s face and she swallowed hard.</p><p>“Waverly?” Nicole questioned, noticing the change.</p><p>Closing her eyes, Waverly shook her head. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thank you for sharing with me,” she replied. “I… I think I want to share with you, now.”</p><p>Nicole nodded, giving Waverly’s hand a small squeeze. “Take your time.”</p><p>And Waverly did. She was quiet for a while, staring down at their linked hands and breathing deeply, as if steeling herself. Occasionally, her jaw would work, as if she were chewing over the words she was planning. Nicole didn’t push her, merely let her work through whatever it was that she needed to. They had plenty of time, after all. Wynonna was still snoring in her bunk, and Shorty didn’t seem to be listening in to anything they were saying.</p><p>“My dad… didn’t like me very much,” Waverly admitted finally. “I don’t know why. Our older sister, she was his pet. His heir. His legend. He liked Wynonna well enough, too. He just… He didn’t like me. He didn’t seem capable of remembering my birthday, or remembering to bring me stuff home from the store like he did my sisters. When he got drunk, and he got drunk a lot, he’d yell at me for no reason. He wasn’t physically abusive – I guess I’m grateful for that – but some of the things he said, he…”</p><p>Waverly’s voice caught in her throat, and instantly, Nicole reached over and drew her into a hug. “Hey,” she said quietly, rubbing Waverly’s back gently. Her heart felt painfully tight at what Waverly was telling her. The fact that <em>anyone</em> could look at beautiful, sweet, pure Waverly and think that she was anything less than perfect was beyond Nicole’s comprehension. “You’re okay. You’re alright. I’m so sorry, Waverly…”</p><p>“It seems silly… I’m sorry,” Waverly choked out, wiping at the tears that had begun to spill down her cheeks.</p><p>“It’s not silly,” Nicole rebutted immediately. “Bad parenting is never silly.” She pulled back to look Waverly in the eye and chucked her under the chin fondly with a small, reassuring smile. “You have every right to be upset about it.”</p><p>Waverly swallowed hard and nodded, and then her eyes drifted down to Nicole’s shoulder. “Can I just…?”</p><p>Nicole nodded, sitting back so Waverly could cuddle up against her side. Nicole’s arm came up and… ever so lightly, laid across Waverly’s shoulders, her thumb carefully drawing soothing circles where it rested. Within minutes, she felt Waverly’s breathing deepen and her body relax.</p><p>Waverly felt so <em>good</em>, tucked into her side like that, with her face pressed into the crook of Nicole’s neck. She felt much more right than that blonde at her first afterparty who’d straddled her lap. Somehow, Waverly’s far less sexual position felt far more intimate. Nicole’s heart soared at the small, happy sigh that Waverly let out in her sleep, and something occurred to her. Something potentially very, very bad.</p><p>Maybe it <em>wasn’t</em> just a crush.</p><p>She turned her eyes to the heavens, as if she could see through the roof of the tour bus right into them. She was sure that if she could, she’d see Waverly Earp up there. She nodded a couple times at the cruel fate she was dealt – doomed to be a useless lesbian in love with her unattainable, taken, <em>straight</em> bandmate – figuring it was a bit on par for how her life had gone so far.</p><p><em>Well, shit</em>.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I told y'all that occasionally, randomly, I'd post on Thursdays! I happened to have a very prolific start to my week, and I simply could not wait another four days to post chapter six for you guys.</p><p>ALSO, and this is important, but a lot of you just want Champ to be gone already, and... Well. I'm really sorry (no I'm not) to tell y'all, but he's gonna be in it for a while yet. I only know how to write slowburn ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ so he's gonna be here for a bit. My beta says it's okay because she knows some of my plans for the future and she says that I'm gonna hurt you guys much worse later on. So, consider this chapter a gift. When I DO hurt you guys worse, just remember how nice I was to post this on Thursday instead of Monday.</p><p>Much thanks, of course, to my beta, Mvphoenix, for listening to my half-baked ideas and rants and looking over the chapters.</p><p>And thanks to all of you guys for leaving comments and kudos! I hope you lovelies leave more on this chapter because they really do make my week. Bye for now, hope to see y'all again Monday!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Bonding Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They were almost to Austin. Wynonna was blinking sleep out of her eyes, having just woken up about ten minutes prior. At some point, Waverly had woken up, as well, and turned on the television, neither she nor Nicole wanting to talk about the cuddling, for lack of a better word.</p>
<p>Nicole glanced up at the cheesy drama show that Waverly had put on and shook her head with an amused smile. She knew that, once Wynonna was awake enough to register it, she’d complain.</p>
<p>While Nicole wasn’t a huge fan of pure dramas, either, she let Waverly enjoy her show in peace, opting instead to pull out her laptop. She’d checked it the previous night, but upon seeing the email from her parents, had abruptly shut it and pushed it as far away from her as possible. Now, she bypassed it as she checked her other emails. A smile found its way onto her face when she saw one from Nedley, a much more pleasant contact in her mind.</p>
<p>She opened it up and clicked the link that was inside.</p>
<p>And then her jaw dropped.</p>
<p><em>The Haughtest New Thing</em> was the title of the article, and there was a picture of her, standing on stage while she was introducing herself, right under the title. A weird, fluttery thing was happening in her stomach, and she was distinctly aware of her blood rushing in her ears. She hadn’t actually considered that people would <em>talk</em> about her.</p>
<p>Frantically, she scrolled down to read.</p>
<p>
  <em>On Tuesday, May 20<sup>th</sup>, in Kansas City, famed and adored band Peacemaker shocked its fans by revealing a brand new member of their crew. The response to the new drummer was uproarious, and Earpers have not been able to stop talking about her.</em>
</p>
<p>A couple tweets were shown of random people gushing over her, <em>Nicole</em>. Nicole was fairly certain that no one had ever gushed over her before in her life.</p>
<p>
  <em>The new drummer, Nicole Haught, rose up onto the stage from below and announced that she was “from all over the States” and “gay as fuck”. The fans adored this introduction, and already, stores are selling out of fingerless gloves and white Stetson hats as Earpers try to replicate her iconic look.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Not only was the world shocked by the unexpected addition of Nicole Haught to Peacemaker, but also by the quick replacement of Peacemaker’s previous drummer, Willa Earp.</em>
</p>
<p>Nicole’s breath caught in her throat. She prayed that neither Wynonna or Waverly noticed how she paled, her eyes zeroed in on the name of the previous drummer. Waverly had mentioned that their last drummer had gone off somewhere, but truthfully, neither Earp had talked about her much. And Nicole had been too much of a hermit (regarding social media anyway) in the past to have any prior knowledge. She had purposefully avoided any mention of Peacemaker because, in her opinion back then, they were overrated. Now, she didn’t know what she thought, but she definitely <em>felt</em> a little dirty for replacing Wynonna and Waverly’s sister. She shook her head and forced herself to read on.</p>
<p>
  <em>Five weeks ago, all of our hearts were broken when it was announced that the drummer for Peacemaker, Willa Earp, had been killed by a drunk driver in a tragic car accident. It was reported that the driver fled the scene immediately but was caught and brought into custody the next day. The world mourned the death of Willa Earp, but none more than her sisters.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>No one expected the two remaining Earp sisters to acquire a new drummer so quickly, leaving the outlook for their tour rather undetermined. Peacemaker surprised us, though, when they announced that they were going to continue their tour after the untimely death of one of their members, and now, they surprise us again with a new drummer.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Regardless of how the world mourns Willa still, Earpers have high hopes for Nicole, and news stations are already flooding Peacemaker’s manager for a chance to interview her and learn more about her mysterious and sudden addition to the beloved band.</em>
</p>
<p>Nicole swallowed hard. She tabbed back to Nedley’s email. He included the message, ‘You’re everywhere’ before signing his name at the bottom. Nicole’s stomach only churned more. She forced her breathing to even, looking up only when she felt the tour bus pull to a stop.</p>
<p>“Welcome to Austin,” Shorty announced, grinning back at them. “I’ve got a lot of fond memories here, myself.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>As soon as they checked into their hotel rooms, it seemed, both Wynonna and Nicole were content to stay in and laze around as they waited for the extra day to pass. Waverly supposed she would expect that from Wynonna, but not from Nicole. When they got off the bus, Nicole looked almost spooked, but when Waverly asked her if she was alright, she insisted she was, immediately adopting that gorgeous dimpled smile that she had absolutely no right at all to own.</p>
<p>Waverly knew, see, that <em>eventually</em> they’d have to come clean to Nicole about who it was she was replacing as the drummer of Peacemaker. Every time she thought it, though, she clammed up, her stomach doing a whole acrobatic routine. She didn’t want to talk about Willa. She’d never wanted to talk about Willa.</p>
<p>She loved Willa, of course she did, but in spite of that love, Willa had still treated her like an outcast most of her life. Willa had still taunted and teased her and made her do dangerous acts when she was caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar. She hated herself for it, but when Willa ran off, right after their daddy was killed, she felt almost relieved, like a pressure had been lifted off of her six year-old chest. She cried with Wynonna, and she grieved and mourned like anyone else, but inside, she felt relieved.</p>
<p>Even when Willa returned, out of the blue, she was always more interested in Wynonna. The two of them had been close their whole lives. Waverly didn’t blame Wynonna for any of it. Hell, she didn’t blame Wynonna for being upset about Nicole’s entrance into Peacemaker.</p>
<p>But one thing was for sure – Waverly couldn’t stand the tension that would sometimes arise when the two of them were sitting in the same room. She’d seen it when Nicole refused to get any tattoos, and during the game with the roadies, and all the time when they were all sitting on the couch on the tour bus. It was like an uncomfortable weight that hung in the room. Waverly knew her sister – how stubborn she could be – and she was sensing a similar amount of stubbornness in Nicole, in the short time she’d known her. She knew that nothing would get fixed without a little interference.</p>
<p>She was not afraid to take it upon herself to interfere for the sake of everyone’s sanity.</p>
<p>“Hey Waves, what did you want to talk about?” Nicole asked as she treaded into Waverly’s hotel room, sitting down on the edge of the bed.</p>
<p>Waverly opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, Wynonna was at the door.</p>
<p>“Look, baby girl, I was about to leave for bar-hopping time, so whatever you want better be pretty important.”</p>
<p>“It is!” Waverly insisted, grabbing Wynonna by the arm and pushing her towards the bed. She shut the door and stood in front of it, blocking the only exit. “Whatever is going on between the two of you, I don’t like it. So, today… We are going… To bond!”</p>
<p>Matching looks of horror crept onto both Wynonna and Nicole’s faces. <em>Well, at least they can agree on something,</em> Waverly thought.</p>
<p>“We don’t need to bond!” Nicole said quickly. “We’ve bonded plenty. Watch. Wynonna, could you pass me that pillow over there?”</p>
<p>“Fuck off.”</p>
<p>“See?” Nicole nodded convincingly, gesturing to the space between herself and Wynonna. “Bonding. That’s all that’s needed. We’re good now.”</p>
<p>Waverly rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. “Not good enough. If I’m going to be living in a tour bus with the two of you, I’d rather not have you butting heads constantly.”</p>
<p>“That’s going to happen anyway, baby girl,” Wynonna pointed out. “She’s too much of a boring-ass goody two-shoes.”</p>
<p>“And <em>she’s</em> too much of a criminal.”</p>
<p>“You went to juvy, too, dipshit.”</p>
<p>A flash of anger crossed Nicole’s face and she opened her mouth to say something. “Enough!” Waverly interjected quickly, feeling as if she were handling two pissed off, aggressive lions fighting over territory and trying to keep them from ripping each other to shreds before her very eyes. “This is exactly what I’m talking about! Enough with the bickering!”</p>
<p>Nicole dipped her head in shame while Wynonna just scoffed.</p>
<p>“Now, it is early afternoon. We have the rest of the day to ourselves. The roadies will take care of set up and everything. I spent most of the day today looking up attractions in Austin, and we are going to make the most of it, with <em>no fighting</em>. Got it?”</p>
<p>Both of them nodded, albeit grumpily, and Waverly smirked to herself. It was nice, sometimes, to have complete control over everyone around her. Wynonna may be the main face of Peacemaker, as the lead singer, but there was no way in hell she was the one in charge.</p>
<p>Twenty minutes later, they were walking through the bustling city of Austin, Waverly consulting the itinerary she’d written up while still on the bus. “So, first thing’s first, we’ve gotta go shopping, since swimming is next in the list, and I don’t think either of you have a bathing suit on hand.”</p>
<p>“What if I don’t want to swim?” Wynonna challenged.</p>
<p>“Well, you’re gonna. The Barton Springs Pool is one of the most gorgeous outdoor pools ever, and there’s no way I’m gonna pass through Austin without swimming in it.”</p>
<p>The three of them walked into a department store, slipping past a couple that was trying to get their toddler to calm down and quit screaming. “I’m never having children,” Wynonna grumbled under her breath, eyeing the toddler with a wince.</p>
<p>Waverly led the way towards the swimsuit area, sweeping her arm out in front of her to gesture to it all. “Go crazy, kids,” she told them with a wink. At least, it felt like they were kids, being herded around by her and scolded every time they even began to argue over something.</p>
<p>Wynonna stalked around the racks, muttering something under her breath as she looked closely at a couple of the swimsuits. Her eyes lit up and she reached deep into a rack, pulling out a pineapple-decorated one piece. “Hey, Haught shit! Try this on!”</p>
<p>“Oh, <em>fuck</em> no,” Nicole said, wrinkling her nose. “Though, I think I’ve found one for you,” she added with a smirk, withdrawing an overlarge, neon green matching bikini top and bottom from her own rack.</p>
<p>“You think that’s bad? I bet I could find something worse.”</p>
<p>“Bet.”</p>
<p>Waverly let out a sigh and leaned against a column, figuring they’d be there for a while. Well. At least they weren’t bickering.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Eventually, Waverly managed to get the two of them to pick out their own bathing suits so she could pay for them. Wynonna had chosen a standard black bikini, which honestly, wasn’t far from what Waverly had expected, while Nicole had decided on a floral red bikini. Waverly had her own pink two-piece already on under her outer clothes. She was a planner, after all.</p>
<p>Barton Springs Pool was decently busy, considering it was summer. Both Wynonna and Nicole went into the bathroom at the pool to change while Waverly sat on the edge, dipping her feet into the soothing water.</p>
<p>She looked up as she heard the door open, flashing Wynonna a small smile. Nicole came out shortly after, which wouldn’t have been a big deal at all. Only, when she did, Waverly had to do a double take.</p>
<p>Because Nicole looked… Uh… Well… Good? That didn’t seem to quite cover it. The vibrant color of her bikini really brought out the red of her hair, and the way it hugged her in all the right places was a bit overwhelming. Plus… Waverly kind of got stuck on Nicole’s abs. Rippling, defined, strong, well-chiseled, gorgeous abs. Waverly found herself staring at them and struggling to keep her jaw from dropping open.</p>
<p>In a completely friendly, platonic, heterosexual way!</p>
<p>Of course, she’d <em>seen</em> Nicole’s muscles before. Nicole’s Peacemaker outfit was basically designed to show them off. However, her lacy black top hung over her stomach, obscuring them a bit, while the bikini top <em>didn’t</em>. And that make a huge fucking difference.</p>
<p>Waverly almost felt embarrassed at her own, less-sculpted body and tried to hunch her shoulders to hide how comparatively unattractive she felt. Not that she was thinking of Nicole as attractive, per se. Because she wasn’t. Because she was straight. And in a relationship with a boy – <em>man</em>, she corrected herself.</p>
<p>“You okay?” Nicole asked as she walked over with Wynonna, dropping down next to Waverly and dipping her own long legs into the water. “You look kind of spooked.”</p>
<p>“I’m fine!” Waverly responded quickly, far too quickly.</p>
<p>Nicole studied her for a minute before shrugging and looking down into the water. “Whatever you say.”</p>
<p>Before Waverly could somehow worsen the situation, she felt a hand push her roughly, and suddenly, she was falling forward. She let out a high-pitched squeal before hitting the water. She flailed, her feet finding purchase on the ground after what felt like an eternity.</p>
<p>When she resurfaced, she found that Nicole was in a similar situation, and Wynonna was standing on the edge of the pool, hysterical with laughter.</p>
<p>“You two are so weak! I can’t believe you just let me push you!”</p>
<p>Nicole let out a growl and launched herself upwards, taking hold of Wynonna’s wrist and yanking her down into the pool with them. Waverly shielded her face from the splashes as the two of them wrestled each other. It ended with Nicole holding Wynonna’s head underwater and shouting for an apology.</p>
<p>“Fine!” Wynonna spluttered once she managed to get out of her hold. “Sorry! God, you’re so uptight,” she grumbled before taking off towards the other side of the pool.</p>
<p>Nicole grinned and leaned back against the wall of the pool. “And that’s how you conquer a wild Wynonna,” she announced.</p>
<p>Laughing, Waverly leaned up next to her. “I have to say, I’m impressed. She never apologizes to anyone without me forcing her to.”</p>
<p>“Ah, good. Glad I’m able to best her, then.”</p>
<p>Waverly shook her head in amusement. “I bet you she’s headed for the diving board right now. She’s always loved them. I think it has to do with the freedom of being in the air, even for a split second before you hit the water.”</p>
<p>“Freedom can be scary,” Nicole replied solemnly. “Sometimes, you think you want it, but once you have it, you don’t really know what to do with yourself. A good ball and chain can help keep us on track. Otherwise, you’re floating in space with no tether.”</p>
<p>Waverly stared down into the water, swishing her hand around idly. “Where’d that come from?” she asked around the lump in her throat.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” Nicole smiled again, the serious look disappearing from her face. “It’s not important, anyway. She’s gonna piss off that family over there, isn’t she?”</p>
<p>“Oh, it’s almost definite,” Waverly agreed, watching as Wynonna splashed around the family. “She has a nasty habit of pissing people off. Oh, so, the next thing on my list was indoor skydiving, because I <em>know</em> Wynonna would love it. Are you interested?”</p>
<p>Nicole thought about it, turning her gaze upwards for a second before nodding and giving a small shrug. “Yeah, I’ll try it.”</p>
<p>“Good, I didn’t want her to do it alone.”</p>
<p>“You’re not going to?”</p>
<p>Waverly felt heat creep up her neck and onto her cheeks and she pointedly looked away. “No. I want to, but… I don’t think I can. I’m just not brave enough.”</p>
<p>“Hey,” Nicole said softly, reaching out and laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You can do anything you want. You’re plenty brave. I mean, you perform live in front of thousands of people almost every night! That’s crazy brave!” Her smile widened, and it caused Waverly’s heart to skip a beat. “If you don’t want to, I can respect that, but if you do want to, I can promise you’ll be okay. Okay?”</p>
<p>Waverly’s throat dried up, and it was all she could do to nod. “Okay,” she managed, and then cleared her throat. Feeling insecure all of a sudden, she looked away. Nicole’s hand was still on her shoulder, and her skin burned underneath it in spite of the water clinging to the both of them.</p>
<p>It was pleasant because she was close to Nicole, and for some reason, that made her feel very warm inside, but it was uncomfortable because she didn’t understand it, and she didn’t know what to do with it. She twitched involuntarily, and then turned and splashed Nicole to hide it.</p>
<p>“Ah!” Nicole cried out in surprise, blinking at Waverly in shock. Slowly, a dangerous smirk pulled at her lips. “Oh, Waverly Earp,” she nearly purred, her voice low and not at all helping Waverly’s issue. “You did <em>not</em> just splash me.”</p>
<p>Waverly squeaked indignantly and unsuccessfully tried to swim away. Nicole tackled her, grappling with her as she tried to drag her out into the deeper waters. “I’m sorry!” Waverly gasped through her laughter.</p>
<p>“Not enough! You’re gonna have to make it up to me now!”</p>
<p>And that’s how Waverly found herself standing on the edge of the diving board. She swallowed hard, a shiver running through her body as she looked out over the water. Nicole and Wynonna were floating near each other, both wearing shit-eating grins as they watched her. Nicole waved one of her hands in a gesture for Waverly to continue and say what she had been told to say.</p>
<p>She sighed, closing her eyes for a second. “Can I get everyone’s attention, please?” she called out. Quickly, everyone else that was in the pool turned to look at her, some of them adorning shocked expressions as they recognized her.</p>
<p>“My name is Waverly Earp and I am the guitarist of the band Peacemaker. I am here with my bandmates, Wynonna Earp and Nicole Haught. I have been…” she trailed off, color flooding her cheeks. “…a ‘naughty girl’,” she forced out through gritted teeth – a phrase that had been Wynonna’s addition to her little speech. “And so, I’m announcing to everyone that my bandmates are far superior to me in every way possible and… and… I owe them both churros.”</p>
<p>With that, she jumped off of the diving board, doing two front flips in the air before hitting the water. Everyone else in the pool erupted into laugher, cheers, and applause as she sheepishly made her way back over to the singer and drummer.</p>
<p>“Aw, Waves, did you really mean that?” Nicole asked, her voice dripping with sweetness.</p>
<p>“I’m gonna hold you to that churro thing,” Wynonna promised.</p>
<p>“Go fuck yourselves,” Waverly grumbled, properly shamed.</p>
<p>Nicole grinned and pulled her into a tight embrace, rubbing her bare upper back. “You’re so very sweet, Miss Earp. So very sweet, yes.”</p>
<p>Waverly hid her blushing face in Nicole’s shoulder.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>After swimming, they went to the indoor skydiving place, and it went… about as well as could be expected. Wynonna was practically beside herself with excitement when Waverly mentioned it – she had always wanted to try indoor skydiving, and she would have already, if not for Willa’s chastising that it was childish and dangerous. Willa seemed to be the only person who could talk Wynonna out of doing anything.</p>
<p>Waverly really, really wanted to participate, but at the last moment, she chickened out. She decided to take the time when they were waiting in line to go to the Mexican restaurant nearby and grab the churros that she’d promised them.</p>
<p>She was walking back, churros in hand, when she felt a shiver run down her spine.</p>
<p>“Well, well, Miss Waverly Earp. Can’t say I’ve missed your company.”</p>
<p>She spun on her heel, eyes going wide as she took in the sight of Bobo Del Ray, clad in a heavy fur coat despite the fact that it was early summer. Or… late spring? She wasn’t sure, nor did she care. All she knew was that he looked <em>exactly</em> the same as when she last saw him, short mohawk slicked back and beard dyed white in that one patch on his left side.</p>
<p>“I’ve got to agree,” she replied cautiously, eyeing him as he slunk closer. “Why are you here, Bobo? Stalking us again?”</p>
<p>“That redhead you added to Peacemaker is mighty pretty, don’t you think?” he asked, easily sidestepping the question.</p>
<p>“Don’t you touch Nicole.”</p>
<p>He raised his hands in surrender, coming to a stop just a couple of steps away from her. “I didn’t say I was going to touch her, Waverly. You know I only ever had eyes for one woman.”</p>
<p>She crossed her arms over her chest uncomfortably, leaning against a lamp post for support. Her eyes darted around, flicking between the groups of people walking along the sidewalks. “You won’t do anything here,” she dared, raising an eyebrow and standing straight again.</p>
<p>“I’m not intending to.”</p>
<p>“Then why are you stalking me?”</p>
<p>His gaze hardened and he took a threatening step forward. “It was a mistake to replace Willa. First, you get her killed. Second, you act like she never even existed, moving on with your pathetic little performances. Third, you replace her. That’s the last straw, Earp.”</p>
<p>“We didn’t get Willa killed,” Waverly insisted through gritted teeth. “It was an accident that killed her. A drunk driver. <em>Not</em> Wynonna and I. Besides, Nicole isn’t replacing her. We have every right to make our band better.”</p>
<p>He bared his teeth. “It was a <em>mistake</em> for you to replace her,” he repeated. “You and your sister will come to regret taking my Willa away.”</p>
<p>“Is that a threat?”</p>
<p>“It’s a promise,” he growled, stalking off and quickly disappearing behind a crowd of tourists.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Mvphoenix: Why does every Wayhaught fic I've read mention abs and biceps so much???</p>
<p>Me: ...Lesbians</p>
<p>True conversation *nods*</p>
<p>I wrote LITERALLY 90% of this chapter last night y'all lmao, I practically lived at my workplace all week. My boss sent me out to the store during one of my shifts and then realized he already had what he needed, and I shit you not, he texted me and said to "Come home" like I actually do live in that shithole.</p>
<p>Shoutout to Mvphoenix for being an amazing beta who still managed to get this reviewed even when I sent it to her so late.</p>
<p>And of course, thanks to all of you for your wonderful comments on last chapter! I realized I might've scared y'all too badly, and I assure you, the BIG hurt isn't coming for quite a while. Fear not! Also, I want to be more interactive with you lovely folks so I'm going to start replying to comments, starting with this chapter. AND, get this, I've made a Wayhaught tumblr?? You can find me at https://ive-got-a-taser (dot) tumblr (dot) com</p>
<p>I haven't posted anything yet because I'm anxious as fuck but I have like 20 incorrect quotes in my drafts so soon? Feel free to send in any asks and shout at me!</p>
<p>Anyway, rambling note over. Let me know what you guys think and I'll see you next Monday! &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. A Whole Gay Icon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nicole had been performing with Peacemaker for a full week. They were on their way from Montgomery, Alabama to Tallahassee, Florida, when Wynonna began bugging Shorty to make a pit stop for a grocery run, complaining that they had no food in the goddamn bus. Nicole had argued with her that they had plenty of food and not to complain just because they were out of the particular brand of chips that Wynonna liked, but, well –</p><p>Sometimes, there was no point to fighting with Wynonna, she’d learned. Waverly’s ‘Bonding Day’ in Austin had helped them a lot, and Wynonna was a little bit more tolerable now, but that didn’t change the fact that the two of them rarely saw eye to eye.</p><p>When Wynonna had told her to just get over the fact that she had her very first interview that day and not stress about it, Nicole had almost punched her. Which was an odd thing, because she hadn’t felt that sort of urge for physical violence in years, not after conquering it through lots of sports and internalizing emotions, but she realized that the anxiety was getting to her, and she was <em>letting</em> it. That was the kicker.</p><p>Determined not to be reduced to the hot mess she was as a child by a few nerves, Nicole decided to take a short walk into the woods, away from where the tour bus was parked, and do her daily exercises. She usually did them in her hotel room, when they didn’t spend the morning on the bus, and found a nice secluded spot during a rest break away from the bus when they did. After all, she still had ambitions of becoming a cop, current occupation and nose ring be damned, and she wasn’t about to let her body laze out of shape.</p><p>She had seen both Wynonna <em>and</em> Waverly gawk at her muscles, with no small amount of self-satisfaction and smugness, and while she didn’t care that much for what Wynonna thought of her, she was determined to make Waverly speechless as much as physically possible, because Waverly was just so damn cute when she blushed and Nicole was some sort of a masochist, she guessed.</p><p>With a sigh, she dropped down from the tree branch she’d been using for pull-ups. Since they were essentially in the middle of nowhere right then, and her interviewer was in New York City, they’d be doing the interview online, over a video call. It was scheduled for a little over an hour, so she figured she ought to get back to the bus if she wanted to shower at the gas station beforehand. She didn’t want her first impression on social media to be sweaty and messy.</p><p>Thirty minutes later, she was standing in front of the mirror in the gas station bathroom and drying her hair. She stared at the face in the mirror and cocked her head to the side a little. She was certainly in a better mindset than last week when she’d stood before a mirror, barely anything more than a quivering bundle of nerves. A lot of it had to do with the fact that people actually seemed to <em>like</em> her, for some godforsaken reason.</p><p>She smiled a little and shook her head. She didn’t understand it, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.</p><p>Once her hair was sufficiently dried, she folded the towel neatly and set it in her shower go-bag. She, Wynonna, and Waverly each had their own to make gas station showers as easy and painless as possible.</p><p>The clock was ticking, she remembered, and there was no way around the interview. She had already agreed to it when Dolls had asked her – really, it was more demanded – and she was the type of person who kept her word, no matter what.</p><p>She made her way to the front doors of the gas station but didn’t get much farther before someone called her name.</p><p>“Miss Haught!”</p><p>Nicole turned around, furrowing her brow in confusion. She saw a teenage girl staring at her with her mouth open, and subconsciously reached a hand up to make sure her hair wasn’t sticking up everywhere. “Nicole’s fine,” she said.</p><p>“Nicole…” the girl whispered, visibly trembling. “Is it really you? Nicole Haught? <em>The</em> Nicole Haught?”</p><p>Confused, Nicole glanced around the gas station. “I think so? I-I’m sorry, do we know each other? Are you from Tucson?”</p><p>The girl beamed and shook her head. “I wish I knew you!” she confessed. “You’re, like, my favorite celebrity ever!”</p><p>Nicole was physically struck by her words and she had to take a step back. <em>Celebrity?</em> she thought helplessly, her eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. “I… You’re mistaken, I’m not a… <em>celebrity</em>. Waverly and Wynonna, they’re celebrities. I’m just me.”</p><p>“Are you kidding me? Everyone in my school knows you, and we all think you’re so awesome!”</p><p>
  <em>Awesome?</em>
</p><p>“Well, fuck,” she muttered, running a hand over her hair as a wave of emotions hit her. She smiled and let out a breathy laugh. “I had never really thought about that, you know. Being known. It’s kind of crazy.”</p><p>The girl bit her lip and nodded. “Can I… Do you think – well, I mean… May I get an autograph?” she asked timidly.</p><p>An autograph. If Nicole was shocked before, she was downright floored now. The idea that someone not only seemed to like her but also wanted her signature for something more than legal matters was beyond her comprehension. “S-sure,” she stammered, taking the folded post-it note and pen that was offered to her.</p><p>For a second, Nicole forgot her own name, but managed to recover before it got too embarrassing. She scribbled out her signature and handed it back to the teenager. The girl squealed, loud and high-pitched, and gushed out at least a dozen thank-yous before nearly running out of the gas station and towards a blue Ford pickup.</p><p>Once she got over her utter bewilderment, Nicole grinned from ear to ear. She readjusted the strap of her shower go-bag on her shoulder and slowly made her way out of the gas station and towards where the tour bus was parked.</p><p>“<em>God</em>, you take forever,” Wynonna sighed once she entered. Nicole simply rolled her eyes, not wanting to engage in an argument. “I was starting to think you got lost in the showers. Come on, Shorty, let’s get to Tallahassee! Next stop, the beach.”</p><p>“No,” Waverly’s voice drifted from the bedroom. “We’re going to the beach the morning <em>after</em> our two concerts.”</p><p>Nicole chuckled at the way Wynonna sighed dramatically, and then grabbed her laptop and headed towards the bedroom. She’d never actually been inside before. It was rather small, barely big enough for the bed and a mini dresser, but still better than some of the circumstances that Nicole had known in her youth.</p><p>Waverly had the door open, and was hunched over on the bed, writing something on a notepad. She looked up when she saw Nicole in the doorway, and instantly, a smile spread across her face. “Hey, you,” she said, scooting to the side and patting the bed where she’d been sitting.</p><p>It didn’t take any more prompting than that for Nicole to go sit in the secluded-ish (as secluded as you could get on the tour bus, anyway) spot next to the beautiful girl that she kind of, sort of loved. No one had ever accused her of making good decisions.</p><p>“What’re you doing?”</p><p>Waverly gestured to the notepad, where there were several lines of writing that were scribbled out and only a few that were left alone. One of them even had a star beside it. “I’m trying to write a new song for Peacemaker.”</p><p>“Oh, that’s right. You said you do your writing in here. All of the songs, all of them were you?”</p><p>“Yeah. Some were inspired by stuff in Wynonna’s life, like Demons, but I’m the one that writes them,” Waverly said, and then smirked. “Wynonna’s not poetic. If she wrote a song, it’d probably say ‘fuck’ every other word. That’s not quite as emotional as music should be. I’ve always been more in touch with my emotions than her.”</p><p>Nicole nodded slowly, reading the few lines that weren’t scratched out. “<em>I was found but now I’m lost, like I got the two wires crossed</em>,” she read aloud. “What’s that about?” she questioned, smiling up at Waverly.</p><p>Who was blushing. Again. Causing some alarming, fluttery thing to happen in Nicole’s chest.</p><p>“I don’t really know,” Waverly confessed, fiddling with her pencil rather than look her in the eye. “It’s just kind of been on the tip of my tongue for a while now. This song, I mean. I’ve been thinking about it since… Thursday, I think. In Austin.”</p><p>“I have no doubt you’ll be able to turn these lines into another amazing hit for Peacemaker,” Nicole said with an encouraging smile.</p><p>Waverly ducked her head even further, the tips of her ears turning red in the most adorable way. Nicole just wanted to lean forward and kiss them, and then run her fingers through long, soft brown hair, and then turn Waverly around so she could kiss her fully and finally experience what those tantalizing lips taste like.</p><p><em>Down, girl</em>. She withheld a sigh. She was really in over her head with Waverly Earp, wasn’t she? It amazed her, because she’d never fallen for anyone quite so quickly or suddenly. Anxiously, she checked her phone, her heart rate spiking as she noticed she was only about ten minutes away from the start of her interview.</p><p>She scooted to the back of the bed and rested against the wall as she opened up her laptop. Curious, Waverly followed suit. “Is it time?” she asked with a gasp.</p><p>“Unfortunately…”</p><p>Waverly frowned, reaching her hand out and covering Nicole’s before she had the chance to pull up Skype. “Are you not excited? You don’t want to do it?”</p><p>Nicole softened. “No, I do. I’m just nervous, you know? I’ve never had anyone really interested in knowing who I am, so I’m not very good at talking about myself. It’s easier to talk about someone else.”</p><p>When Nicole glanced back up at Waverly, she was struck by the gentle look on Waverly’s face. It was sweet, almost pitying. While Nicole didn’t know what to do with herself with people admiring her, she knew even less when it came to them pitying her.</p><p>“Hey, come on,” she said softly, offering a reassuring smile. “It’s not that bad.”</p><p>Waverly sighed and looked away, still turning the pencil over in her hands idly. “I just think that you’re a lot more interesting than people give you credit for, and it’s their loss that they never cared to know the real you.”</p><p>This time, it was Nicole’s turn to blush, and she quickly turned her head to hide it. Any words she attempted died in her throat and all she could manage was a small, awkward shrug. She had never considered it a loss for anyone to not know her.</p><p>She didn’t have low self-esteem, really – she liked herself well enough, most days, and when it came to flirting with girls, she was about as confident as anyone could be without also being arrogant. She’d never let it bother her that she never had any close friends, or she’d never had a relationship last more than a year because her girlfriend would get bored with her. It was the way things were, and Nicole figured that eventually, she’d find someone who’d like her and her calmer personality and that would be that.</p><p>The fact that it was really looking like Waverly was her dream girl at this point only made it harder, because Nicole had more respect than to try to seduce a taken, straight girl.</p><p>“Do you want me here during the interview?”</p><p>Nicole glanced up, meeting the guitarist’s soft eyes. She gave an almost imperceptible nod. “Yeah,” she said, and then cleared her throat. “That would be a bit better, I think.”</p><p>Nodding, Waverly shifted, making herself more comfortable. She gave Nicole an encouraging smile as the Skype call request came in.</p><p>After taking a deep breath to steel herself and smoothing back her hair, Nicole accepted the call request.</p><p>The interviewer was a young man with short, cropped hair and dark eyes. “Hey there!” he greeted warmly. “You must be Miss Haught. I’m Perry Croft. I’ll be your interviewer today.”</p><p>“Nicole is fine,” she insisted, unable to find any other words.</p><p>He just smiled widely and nodded. “Of course, Nicole. We’ll be livestreaming today, and there’s a comment section that I can see. There’s already over one thousand people worldwide tuned into your interview today, and they are <em>loving</em> your shirt.”</p><p>Stunned, Nicole glanced down at the Mountain Peak High School basketball shirt she had on. “I-I didn’t even think to dress a particular way, I kind of threw this on,” she confessed, embarrassed that a school shirt was what over a thousand people were seeing her in.</p><p>Beside her, Waverly reached out and took her hand, rubbing a thumb over the back of it reassuringly.</p><p>“Waverly’s here,” she blurted out, and then flushed a bit. “I mean, she’s right next to me.” Nicole turned her laptop so the camera included Waverly, who smiled at the camera and gave it a small wave before nudging it back to its former position.</p><p>Perry was nodding along patiently as Nicole figured herself out. “I think, first and foremost, everyone wants to know just how you came to be a part of Peacemaker. Did they hold some sort of secret audition that we didn’t know about?”</p><p>Nicole shook her head, and then sent a sly look at the guitarist right next to her. “No,” she said, turning back to the camera. “Actually, what happened was Waverly Earp stole my wallet – “</p><p>She was cut off by an indignant squawk from Waverly. “I did <em>not</em> steal it! You left it!” she argued.</p><p>“ – And then she returned the wallet, but stole a picture from inside of it – “</p><p>“It was evidence!”</p><p>“ – Leaving behind a ticket to their show the next evening. She trapped me with a drum set backstage and then nearly attacked me when I started playing on it.”</p><p>“That’s so unfair. That’s not how any of that happened,” came Waverly’s miserable whine.</p><p>“It’s exactly how it happened.”</p><p>Perry laughed, scribbling a few notes down on a pad he was holding. “That’s quite the story. I’m sure all of us would love to hear the unabridged version sometime.”</p><p>Nicole grinned, feeling a lot more comfortable. After all, even though it had only been a little over a week since she’d met Waverly Earp, she enjoyed telling the story of her impromptu recruitment to the band.</p><p>“I’ll have to write a novel one day,” she promised with a wink. “Sixty thousand words on the absolutely insane shitstorm it’s been, traveling with the Earps.”</p><p>“That bad, huh?” Perry chuckled.</p><p>“Well, no. It hasn’t been <em>bad</em>. There are times that Wynonna gets on my nerves because the two of us are really very different, but overall, it’s actually been kind of fun. I mean, while we’re on the bus, we usually shuffle between movies and shows and relax between our concerts, and when we have time to ourselves in a city, we usually explore.”</p><p>“That sounds like the dream, traveling and having fun.”</p><p>“It kind of is,” Nicole smiled softer now. “I didn’t think I’d like it, but I do.”</p><p>Perry nodded, turning back to his notebook. “I think the next thing I want to ask you is more about you. Specifically, did you always want to play in a band?”</p><p>“No. I played percussion in high school, and then got sucked in here. I hadn’t ever considered being someone that people would <em>know</em>, if that makes sense?”</p><p>“What did you want to do?” he asked.</p><p>Nicole looked down and grinned, thinking back to one cold winter day in Wisconsin, several years ago. “I wanted to be a cop. I still do, really. Maybe after all of this is said and done, I can apply to a police academy.”</p><p>When she felt Waverly’s grip on her hand tighten, she glanced over at her, completely missing what Perry said next. Waverly’s eyes were wide, almost vulnerable, with some unreadable emotion swirling in them.</p><p>“You never told me that,” Waverly pointed out quietly.</p><p>Nicole opened her mouth to say that yeah, she had, when it occurred to her that Waverly was right. She frowned and shrugged. “I guess not,” she agreed before turning her attention back to the interview.</p><p>Perry had stopped talking when he noticed her attention elsewhere, but when she looked back, he adorned that charming smile again. “The comment section is blowing up right now. People love the idea of you being a cop,” he told her. “It’s a hard field to get into as a female, I’m sure, but personally, I’m excited to see the world grow more progressive, and I think that you’re doing an excellent job so far of helping that happen.”</p><p>“In what way?” she asked, her head tilted to the side in confusion.</p><p>“Well, a lot of Earpers were truly shocked by your openness about your sexuality. It’s hard to find celebrities that are so open about that sort of thing. It’s truly inspiring to so many of your fans that not only are you unashamed of who you are, but you embrace it and celebrate it.”</p><p>“Oh,” was all Nicole could say, her eyes wide and unfocused. “That’s… Does that really mean something to people?”</p><p>Perry nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yeah. You’ve inspired a wave of people across the world to come out or embrace who they are. There’s no words that can describe how absolutely impactful it is for someone that people admire to reveal themself to be proudly LGBT.”</p><p>Waverly’s hand tightened encouragingly, and a smile spread across Nicole’s lips, pulling painfully at the ends as she thought that maybe this could be something good, touring with Peacemaker. Maybe it could be a good decision.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>After the interview concluded, Nicole got an email from Dolls telling her that her ‘interview chops need work’, but good job for a first try. She thought it was pretty good praise from Dolls, and she rode a high all afternoon they were traveling to Tallahassee.</p><p>The Earp sisters were sitting on the couch, watching some cheesy chick flick that Waverly had put on after winning a rather exciting game of rock-paper-scissors with Wynonna. Wynonna complained every few minutes throughout the beginning part of the movie, but took the hint and stopped when Waverly whacked her hard with a pillow.</p><p>Nicole was maneuvering around the kitchen, trying to put together a brief snack for the three of them that was conscious of Waverly’s veganism as well as Wynonna’s more boorish appetite. What she settled on, with the limited supply of groceries in the small kitchenette, was popcorn.</p><p>She turned to throw away the plastic wrapping when she noticed a half-full bag of chips in the trash can. Sighing, she fished it out and held it out in front of her.</p><p>“Wynonna, why did you throw these out?” she asked irritably.</p><p>Wynonna reached for the remote and paused the movie before turning around and resting her elbows on the back of the couch. “Because they’re stale,” she answered.</p><p>Raising an eyebrow, Nicole glanced into the bag. “Barely. You haven’t even had this bag for a <em>week</em>. Maybe if you took better care of your food, it wouldn’t go bad so quickly.”</p><p>“So what? We can just buy more. What’s the point of taking care of it?”</p><p>“The point,” Nicole said, marching over to the couch and dropping the chips into Wynonna’s lap, “is that there are dozens of families out there who can’t even scrape together enough pennies for a sandwich. It’s ungrateful, and quite frankly, snobbish of you to waste food just because you can. It would be really easy to put a clip on the bag, and then guess what? It won’t go stale. Don’t waste what could be a luxury to some.”</p><p>Wynonna rolled her eyes, but didn’t shove the bag back. “Fine, whatever. Cool your tits, Tater Haught. It’s just a bag of chips.”</p><p>Satisfied, Nicole turned back to the kitchen and placed the bag of popcorn delicately in the microwave. She felt Waverly’s eyes on her even as the movie resumed but preferred to focus on the preparation of the popcorn than meet her curious gaze.</p><p>She had settled down to watch the rest of the movie with them once the popcorn was prepped, and none of them mentioned it again.</p><p>About fifteen minutes before the end of the movie, Shorty pulled into the parking lot of the hotel they’d be staying at in Tallahassee. The three of them went about the tour bus, cleaning it up (at Waverly’s insistence) and making sure they had their bags packed for their respective hotel rooms. “Come on, girl, get in there,” Nicole huffed as she nudged Calamity into the carrier she hated.</p><p>Shorty had left the bus to check them in at the hotel, leaving the three girls to scramble for their stuff alone. When a knock sounded at the door to the bus, the three of them stopped and shared a confused look.</p><p>“I’ll get it,” Waverly sighed.</p><p>Nicole set Calamity Jane’s carrier on the floor so she could close her suitcase.</p><p>“It’s for you, Nicole,” Waverly called from the front of the bus.</p><p>The confusion didn’t even have time to set in before Waverly returned, an older couple trailing after her.</p><p>Nicole stood up straight before looking over at them. When her gaze landed on them, she felt all of the blood drain from her face. They looked exactly like she remembered. The man still stood taller than her, with unruly red hair trapped under a baseball cap. The woman still wore that look like she was considering you for her next meal. They still wore those stupid, bright-colored t-shirts and far-too-short shorts.</p><p>“No…” she whispered.</p><p>Her mother saw her and immediately, her face lit up in what Nicole could only describe as good acting. “Oh, my darling baby girl!” she gushed while rushing forward to entrap Nicole in her arms. “How we’ve missed you, Sunny.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ugh this is so late in the day guys compared to normal and I am SO sorry. I worked more this past weekend than I had the previous one, even, so it gave me no time to write. I LITERALLY wrote this chapter today. Like. My beta hasn't even gotten a chance to read it, and she's three hours behind me so she's not awake yet.</p><p>That being said, this is minimally edited. I did a once-over, but beyond that, I'm sorry if I made any mistakes or anything felt off or rushed or whatever. I just really wanted to get this up for you guys today. Also, I'm so fucking sorry about the ending of the chapter (no I'm not).</p><p>Y'all had to know it was coming.</p><p>Anyway, I did get a couple less comments last chapter than normal? Of course, I absolutely appreciate those of you who did comment and leave kudos, even if it did take me a while to respond to most of the comments! Please leave comments and kudos on this chapter, too - even if you're just saying "Go home, Hatchet, this sucks"!</p><p>Ah, well. Enough of my rambling. See you guys next Monday (hopefully)!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Emotionally Stunted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There were very few things in the world more uncomfortable than being wrapped in her mother’s arms, Nicole thought, and the irony of that was not lost on her. She stiffened, feeling like a statue as her mother held on tightly. She couldn’t remember a time that either of her parents had hugged her before.</p>
<p>Her mother pulled back enough to look at her. “You never call, you never <em>text</em>… For all we knew, you could’ve been dead in a ditch!”</p>
<p>Nicole made a face and jerked backwards, a scathing remark on the tip of her tongue that eight years ago, they would have celebrated if she were dead in a ditch. Her eyes briefly flicked to Waverly, who was standing, stunned, behind her parents, and then Wynonna, who had a curiously amused expression on her face, and she managed to bite the remark back.</p>
<p>“We <em>have</em> missed you, Sunny,” her father interjected, sparking a new wave of anger in her chest.</p>
<p>“Don’t fucking call me that,” she snarled, backing up until she hit the side of the fridge. Her arms came up to wrap across her chest tightly, and the tour bus suddenly felt a lot smaller than it had five minutes ago.</p>
<p>Her mother’s lips formed a pathetic pout. “But, baby, it’s your name.”</p>
<p>“Wait a minute,” Wynonna interrupted, drawing the attention of everyone present. She looked like she was fighting back a laugh, but was mostly losing as the corners of her mouth quirked upwards. “Your name is <em>Sunny</em>? Like… Like… <em>Sunny</em>? That’s seriously your name?”</p>
<p>“No,” Nicole spat with a sort of finality to her tone. “My name is <em>Nicole</em>. In the eyes of the law, on every official document, which are pretty important, you know, my name is Nicole Haught. Not fucking Sunny.”</p>
<p>Her mother adopted the perfect wounded puppy look, and her father slowly rubbed her arms in comfort. “It’s okay, my love. She’s always been like this, remember? She’s never liked us,” he told her gently.</p>
<p>“Sure. Make me into the villain. That’s so fitting,” she scoffed, wrapping her arms impossibly tighter around herself as if it would relieve some of the pressure in her chest. The fear, the pain, the helplessness. Just like always.</p>
<p>“Sun – Nicole,” her father corrected once he saw the look of utter wrath she was giving him. Her mother was sobbing into his shirt, clutching the hem with both of her hands. What perfect actors they were. “Baby, we never wanted to do anything but love you. You’re the one that wouldn’t let us. Not when you were little, and not now, it seems. We just want to make things right. Why won’t you try?”</p>
<p>
  <em>We never wanted to do anything but love you.</em>
</p>
<p>Nicole bit her tongue hard enough to draw blood. <em>And starve me,</em> she thought bitterly. <em>And ignore me, and neglect me, and shove dirty, greasy rags in my mouth when I cried.</em></p>
<p>“Nicole…”</p>
<p>She instantly relaxed, just a tiny bit anyway, at the sound of Waverly’s soft voice coming from behind her parents. Waverly had an unreadable expression on her face, but if Nicole had to guess, she’d say somewhere along the lines of <em>heartbroken</em>. “What’s going on, Nicole?”</p>
<p>Nicole glanced between Waverly and her parents, feeling the distinct prick of tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. She didn’t know how to describe everything that was wrong; she was too emotionally stunted. She shook her head quickly and bit her tongue again. It seemed everyone was looking at her, waiting for an answer – Waverly was confused, her parents hopeful, and Wynonna, well, Wynonna wasn’t even trying to hide her amusement at this point.</p>
<p>Not for the first time in her life, Nicole felt like a wounded animal backed into a corner, and she hated that feeling with every fiber of her being. She hated feeling weak. She had made it very clear in that courtroom, all of those years ago, that she was <em>not</em> a victim. She would never be a victim.</p>
<p>With a frustrated huff, she finally dropped her arms and ran one of her hands through her hair. She still wasn’t completely used to its shortness, and she let that distract her from the shit hitting the proverbial fan.</p>
<p>“I can’t do this,” she said. When everyone’s faces all turned to confusion, she threw her hands up in the air. “I just can’t fucking do this.”</p>
<p>She didn’t wait for any sort of response from anyone before shoving past her parents and slipping past Waverly in a much more polite manner. Waverly tried to say something, even went so far as to reach out for her, but Nicole nimbly avoided her hand.</p>
<p>Once outside, she found Shorty walking up. He stopped, stunned, upon seeing her, and she could only imagine how she looked. She didn’t care, quite frankly, and took one of the hotel room keys from him.</p>
<p>She didn’t even remember riding the elevator up to the third floor. She just flopped down onto her bed and buried her face in a pillow, trying desperately to smother the wave of emotions that was threatening to completely overtake her.</p>
<p>She felt useless, and empty, and sad, but most of all, she felt <em>angry</em>. Angry that they dared to come back into her life and try to plead their case, try to make her and everyone else believe that they loved her. That they wanted nothing more than to love her, when she knew very well from experience that they were never anything but selfish, and love was a foreign concept to them.</p>
<p>Yeah, Nicole had tried, growing up. She had tried to earn their love. There was a time when she acted as the best daughter she could possibly be. She thought, <em>maybe if I just be good and sweet, they’ll remember to feed me.</em> Wasn’t that the core basis for love and human empathy? The bond between a parent and her child? Nicole didn’t remember much from her philosophy class her freshman year of college, but she did remember that, because she had felt so broken when learning about it, in a way she never had before. She felt broken, because if she didn’t get that motherly, mammalian bonding as a child, how could <em>she</em> ever learn to love?</p>
<p>She had begun to think that that was why she was never able to hold onto friendships. That was why Shae had walked out on her, and Nicole had allowed it. Because she simply couldn’t love, and she was imagining that clenching agony in her chest, thinking that it <em>should</em> be there.</p>
<p>Over a year later, she didn’t quite believe that anymore. She had talked to Dr. Richards a month after that class when he’d first mentioned the concept and he had assured her that she was not made a sociopath by her parents’ neglect. He proved it to her, too, with empathy exercises, and slowly, her self-doubts and fears were reduced to irrationality. She was able to breathe for the first time since learning that the bond between a mother and her baby was thought to be the foundation of empathy.</p>
<p>Nicole let out a groan and sat up. She didn’t know what to do now that she’d fled to her hotel room. With her luck, it would only be a matter of time before someone followed her with some sort of misguided attention. One thing was for certain – she was in no mood to face her parents or either of the Earp sisters.</p>
<p>And, of course, cue the gentle knock at her door, right as she thinks that.</p>
<p>Nicole debated ignoring it, pretending she had gone to sleep or something even though it was still pretty early in the afternoon. Maybe dealing with Wynonna’s teasing about that wouldn’t be worth it. She got up and walked over to the door but hesitated before opening it. A quick glance through the peephole revealed her visitor to be Waverly, and honestly, she wasn’t surprised.</p>
<p>It was only the grumpy meow coming from the other side of the door that persuaded Nicole to actually open it.</p>
<p>“You left Calamity,” Waverly said as she pushed her way into the room, huffing a bit as she carried the slightly overweight cat’s carrier in one hand and Nicole’s suitcase in her other.</p>
<p>Nicole could only stand back and watch as Waverly set the carrier and suitcase down and then turned to close the door. She stood in front of the closed door with her arms crossed over her chest, a sort of determination in her stance.</p>
<p>Once she actually looked at Nicole, though, it instantly softened into something much sweeter.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Waverly murmured, reaching forward and taking her hand.</p>
<p>When Waverly started leading her over towards the bed, Nicole allowed it. She knew she should start setting up Calamity’s makeshift ‘hotel litterbox’, but she just couldn’t find the energy to. Waverly placed her hands on her shoulders, carefully forcing her to sit.</p>
<p>Nicole suddenly found herself unable to meet the brunette’s eyes, so she directed her own to her lap, studying her hands as if she had never seen them before. A strange sort of tension hung in the air, though it was entirely possible that Nicole was imagining it. There were a million things she thought she should say to Waverly, a million different ways to explain the asswipes that were her parents, but each and every word got stuck in her throat.</p>
<p>“Are you okay? That was… pretty intense.”</p>
<p>Of course. Sweet, caring Waverly just wanted to make sure she was okay. That almost made it worse.</p>
<p>Nicole’s lips twitched, but ultimately remained sealed shut.</p>
<p>“Your name is Sunny?” Waverly asked, though it was more curious than teasing. The look in her eyes seemed genuine, too.</p>
<p>“It was,” Nicole said, and then had to clear her throat because of the hoarseness. “I, um… I changed it, legally. Any certified hippies that name their daughter something like ‘Nicole’ deserve to have their hippie licenses revoked,” she attempted a joke. Waverly’s lips quirked up slightly in amusement before they both turned solemn again.</p>
<p>Hesitantly, Waverly placed her hands back on Nicole’s shoulders. “Your mother, uh… She seemed pretty upset about what happened.”</p>
<p>“How did you know they were my parents before I mentioned it?”</p>
<p>“I’m not stupid, Nicole. You’re practically the spitting image of your mother, only younger with red hair instead of blonde. She just couldn’t stop crying, you know. Once you left, Wynonna got all awkward and fled, too, and then I was left alone with them. She kept asking why you hate her, what she ever did to you, that sort of thing.”</p>
<p>Nicole resisted the urge to roll her eyes. There was a lot that her parents did to her, and if she had the energy and motivation, she could write a whole novel on it.</p>
<p>Logically, the best way to handle this situation would be to explain to Waverly just why she acted the way she did. Explain, calmly, all of the shit that her parents put her through, all of the years that Nicole would have literally sold her soul if only to get a sandwich in front of her. Waverly was a pretty understanding person, but she was also Wynonna’s sister. If left to her own devices, she could easily come to her own conclusion. The most rational thing to do would be to give her all of the facts and <em>then</em> let her make a decision about what to believe.</p>
<p>Only, Nicole couldn’t find any words to describe any of it. She couldn’t rationalize her behavior, or her childhood, because then that would be <em>telling</em>, and once Waverly knew, her whole opinion of Nicole would change in a most unpleasant way.</p>
<p>Pity was Nicole’s enemy, after all.</p>
<p>Waverly let out a small, frustrated sound and ran a hand through her own hair. “Come on, Nic. Talk to me. You’ve never had an issue talking to me before.”</p>
<p>And that was true. Beyond Nicole’s brief experience in forgetting the English language upon first meeting Waverly, she had found that talking to the shorter girl was exceptionally, almost astoundingly, easy. Yet, when she tried to make any sort of defense for herself regarding her parents, the tension was too strong as it wrapped around her throat, strangling her, and her words were too weak, dying long before they could be uttered.</p>
<p>“Leave me alone,” whatever had possessed Nicole’s body said.</p>
<p>Waverly drew back, hurt causing a small crease to appear between her eyebrows. She held her hands close to herself and blinked in bewilderment. “I want to help,” she insisted after a moment, reaching out again to take Nicole’s hand in hers.</p>
<p>A spark ignited in Nicole’s chest, and she jerked away from the touch. She clenched her jaw and finally met Waverly’s gaze. She was so sick and tired of everything, and the last thing she wanted was to have to explain herself. For once in her goddamned life, she just wished someone would <em>listen</em> to her when she told them what she needed.</p>
<p>“Go away, Waverly,” she snarled.</p>
<p>And then, as if a kind, omniscient deity was listening, Waverly did. Nicole collapsed back onto the bed numbly and tried to pretend she hadn’t seen the tears glistening in those beautiful hazel eyes.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope that reading that hurt your guys' hearts as much as it hurt mine to write.</p>
<p>Sorry that this chapter was so short. I really wanted to end it there for angst's sake, and I wasn't going to write filler for no reason. That's how fics get boring *nods sagely* Anyway, I'll make it up to y'all. I'm only partway through writing chapter ten, and it looks like it's actually going to be longer than most chapters. Plus, just to get you guys excited... Chapter ten is going to feature drunk Nicole &gt;.&gt;</p>
<p>Shoutout for my beta for reading over and catching mistakes, and listening to all of my ranting. Also, huge shoutout to all of you! Chapter nine got, like, a crazy amount of comments, and it made me so happy! You guys are amazing, really, and I love y'all so much.</p>
<p>Keep being awesome, dedicated readers, and I'll see you guys again next Monday :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Regression and Deflection (With a Side of Drinking)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nicole didn’t come out of the hotel room the rest of that night, lying awake in agony over how awful she’d been to Waverly and just how shitty her life was going to be if her parents stuck around. She didn’t like being rude or mean. She had been, when she was younger, but mostly because of all of the repressed emotions she wasn’t equipped to deal with. Usually, parents are supposed to teach you about that stuff. The idea that she might be reverting back to her old ways, toppling all of the work and effort she had put in with the help of her school counselor, was honestly a little terrifying.</p><p>
  <em>“I’m not a good person, or a nice person. I break stuff that doesn’t belong to me so that I can feel something, and I say things that I know will upset people so that I can get a reaction, any reaction at all, and I… I don’t like that. I don’t like anything about who I am. I don’t want to be this way, but my life just feels like it’s been one huge, raging shitstorm and I don’t know how to fix it.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her counselor’s eyes were soft as she nodded along slowly with what she said. “Why do you think you act out this way? Why do you want reactions?” she asked gently.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Irritated, Nicole tore her beanie off and ran a hand through her hair. “Because I’m fucked up?” she hazarded a guess, and then sighed. “Because… Because I never got a reaction from my parents? I mean, I’m out here now, living on my own, completely unequipped to deal with anything and stuck because some stupid judicial idiot decided that I was mature enough to be considered a legal adult at the age of fourteen.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her counselor nodded again and leaned forward. “Let me ask you something, Nicole… Are you angry?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Is that some kind of joke?” Nicole retorted, her eyebrows drawn together in confusion and, yes, fury.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No, I’m genuinely asking you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>With a huff, Nicole looked away, forcing herself to swallow the retorts bubbling up in her throat. “Yeah,” she said after a bit. “Yeah, I’m angry. All the time.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“The problem, Nicole, isn’t that you have this anger, because that’s completely normal, but that you have no channel through which to direct it. You’re not in any extracurriculars, you don’t have anything that you’re passionate about. You’re a strong girl, and Coach Nedley has said he’s wanting you to try out for the basketball team. You could do track, too, with those long legs of yours. And, this is often overlooked, but our high school has an excellent marching band and an award-winning drumline. You need to channel your anger, Nicole. Does what I’m saying make sense?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yeah,” Nicole answered, her voice slightly hoarse.</em>
</p><p>That day, after walking out of the counselor’s office, Nicole did just what had been suggested to her. She signed up for things, and she got involved.</p><p>And it <em>helped</em>. By god, did it help.</p><p>Nicole didn’t want to be the person she was before. She liked the polite, helpful person she’d made herself into. She had worked too goddamn hard to let her parents completely upend everything she’d done, all of the progress she’d made.</p><p>She realized that she’d have to apologize to Waverly <em>again</em> for being so rude. Waverly really was just trying to help, and she didn’t deserve to get treated the way she did… Come to think of it, Nicole didn’t think she’d ever really made their first meeting up to Waverly. She’d apologized verbally, but it still sort of felt like something hung in the balance. She needed to not just say that she was sorry, but <em>show</em> it, because words were shoddy little things that could be twisted around and manipulated.</p><p>When there was a knock on her door in the morning, Nicole flinched involuntarily, being drawn out of her thoughts. She frowned towards it, not at all expecting Waverly to be back so soon, not after what she’d said.</p><p>
  <em>Go away, Waverly.</em>
</p><p>That had to hurt.</p><p>Her visitor didn’t wait for a response before opening the door with what she assumed was a spare hotel key, though she had no idea where they would’ve gotten it. Her mood only worsened when she found that her visitor – or rather, visitors – were far less pleasant company than Waverly Earp.</p><p>Nicole rolled her eyes and leaned against a wall. She met her parents’ gazes and gave a half-assed gesture for them to get on with it.</p><p>“You were really rude yesterday, <em>baby</em>,” her mother sneered, all pretenses gone, it seemed.</p><p>“Hm, yes, maybe. The two of you have been rude for my whole life, though, so I think it’s kind of deserved,” she shot back.</p><p>Her father stepped forward, his mouth forming a thin line. “Don’t you talk to your mother that way.”</p><p>Maybe it was because she was feeling so mentally and emotionally tired that she was being so daring, but instead of cowering in fear from her father’s six foot-three form, Nicole merely smirked. “What are you gonna do? Lock me in the trunk of the car again? I’m twenty-one, Father. That’s not gonna work anymore.”</p><p>“Enough of this,” her mother interrupted. “We’re here, Sunny, because you owe us.”</p><p>“Oh, do I?”</p><p>“Yes. After taking care of you for your entire childhood, you owe us. Now that you’ve gotten yourself well and truly <em>famous</em>, you have to pay up. Cash will do.”</p><p>Nicole quirked an eyebrow in challenge. “What part of any of those fourteen years was you two ‘taking care of me’? I’m sorry, I think I blinked and missed it.”</p><p>Instantly, her father stepped forward and grabbed her by the front of her shirt, the way he used to when she was little, but instead of holding her up against the side of the car, he held her against the wall. “When did you get that mouth on you, Sunny?” he growled, his breath hot on his face.</p><p>A jolt of fear shot through Nicole, but she refused to let it show.</p><p>“You’re forgetting, dear, how we kept a roof over your head. How we kept you clothed and alive. What about that time some awful man tried to grab you and we <em>defended</em> you? What do you call all of that if not taking care of you?”</p><p>Nicole’s eyes moved to her mother in shock. “Common human decency!” she exclaimed. “The clothes you bought, might I remind you, didn’t fit me, and you two couldn’t even keep a meal on my plate.”</p><p>“You were a child, you didn’t need a lot of food,” her father tried to say.</p><p>Her mouth dropped open and she shook her head. “Yes, I fucking did,” she sighed. Feeling altogether exhausted, she pushed her father away, and he was so surprised by the boldness that he didn’t fight back. “I was starving, all the time, and every time I said something, you two would either punish or muzzle me. Sometimes both.”</p><p>“Disobedience requires punishment,” her mother insisted.</p><p>Nicole swallowed hard and shook her head again. “No. It doesn’t,” she said quietly before slipping past them, her arms wrapped around her stomach as if she were eight years old again.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Nicole bounded off of the stage after the concert, feeling exhilarated and grinning ear-to-ear, as usual. The energy from the roaring crowd of fans and the pumping music was enough for her to lose herself in, forgetting all about the fights and unpleasantness that had plagued the past couple of days.</p><p>Even when her parents cornered her after the performance, she didn’t let it bring her mood down. “Fuck off,” she told them with a smirk. “I’m on cloud nine.”</p><p>She took her hat off and handed it to Mercedes before taking a high-five from Jeremy. She could still hear the music pumping, and damned if she let anything ruin her post-concert adrenaline. Nothing could stop her now.</p><p>Except, you know, for Waverly Earp.</p><p>Nicole sobered in record time when she saw Waverly standing in front of her with a guarded look on her face. The entirety of the rehearsal beforehand, Waverly had ignored her, creating tension that even <em>Wynonna</em>, queen of oblivion, was able to notice. Once on stage, it disappeared – or rather, got masked by their performance – but it was still there, and as Nicole gazed upon Waverly’s stiff form, she felt it return in full force.</p><p>She opened her mouth but found that her throat had dried up.</p><p>“Why don’t you give them a chance, Nicole?” Waverly nearly growled, saving her from having to speak. “Your mom was <em>crying</em> after you said that to her.”</p><p>Nicole scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh, I bet she was,” she replied sourly.</p><p>Waverly grimaced and gestured wildly with one hand. “See, that. That is unnecessary and cruel, and I didn’t take you for either of those things. Maybe I was wrong.”</p><p>“I don’t know, maybe you were,” Nicole shot back, not altogether happy with how her mood had been ruined by a grumpy Waverly so quickly. “Guess that’s what happens when you pick up random chicks in coffee shops.”</p><p>“Why are you being like this, Nicole? They’re your <em>parents</em>. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”</p><p>“Oh, it means a lot, but I assure you, nothing good.”</p><p>“Are you just being ornery or something? I don’t… Is it because you said you were a bad kid? Did that drive a wedge between you guys?”</p><p>Nicole had let her gaze wander, fiddling with the gloves on her hands. How dare Waverly assume she knew anything about her? A familiar feeling of anger and injustice bubbled up in Nicole, and she scowled. She couldn’t wrap her head around the idea of Waverly siding with her parents over her. They waltz into her life again, play the pity card, and suddenly, Nicole’s nothing more than a useless, starving kid again.</p><p>She muttered a curse under her breath but didn’t otherwise respond to Waverly’s question. Waverly didn’t deserve a response, not with how she was acting. If she was going to be immature, then goddammit, Nicole would, too.</p><p>“Fine, don’t tell me!” Waverly shouted, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. “They’re still your parents, Nicole, and like it or not, they’re the only set you’ve got. Even if my father was an abusive alcoholic asshole, he was still my <em>father</em>, and I still loved him. I still cried when he died. I was six years old, you know. I was six years old, my mother had walked out on us two years before, and then my father died and my oldest sister ran away, and then Wynonna was fucking taken to a mental institution,” she continued without breathing. Nicole looked at her again, concern writing over every ill emotion she’d felt beforehand as Waverly kept going. “I lost all of the family I had at six years old, so if your family tries to get in touch with you and fucking love you, then fucking take it!”</p><p>Nicole swallowed hard, feeling helpless as she watched Waverly seethe. The shorter girl was trembling from head to toe, and her face was flushed with rage. All of Nicole’s anger went out the window as she realized how worked up Waverly had gotten. She stepped forward and slowly extended a hand. “Waverly…” she said, her tone low, gentle.</p><p>“No, don’t ‘Waverly’ me!” the brunette cried, wrenching away from her. “Just fucking… Jesus Christ, why is it so hot in here?”</p><p>It wasn’t. Backstage was actually rather cool, especially compared to the stage, which only worried Nicole more. “Waves, come on,” she pleaded soothingly. “Take a deep breath. Let’s go outside, okay? Let’s get you some fresh air. We don’t need to go to the afterparty today, come on.”</p><p>Waverly wrapped her arms around the sliver of skin showing between her crop top and high-waisted leggings. She looked away uncomfortably and actually took a minute to catch her breath. “I’m literally screaming at you, Nicole, why are you being nice to me?” she mumbled after a bit.</p><p>With a breathy sort of laugh, Nicole felt a few of her concerns soothed. “You know, I think you’ve just been dating too many shitheads,” she answered before even thinking about it.</p><p>“We’re not dating!” was Waverly’s immediate rebuttal.</p><p>Nicole physically drew back, feeling a shard of glass stabbing right into her heart at those words. “I-I know,” she stammered out, unable to help the slight bit of pain that crept into her voice.</p><p>With a huff, Waverly turned around and stalked off, leaving Nicole far too alone and far too sober.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Drinking with Wynonna wasn’t such a bad thing. Although they sometimes needed Waverly to mediate in order for them to stand each other’s company during the day, Nicole was actually starting to enjoy spending the afterparty with Wynonna and a group of Earpers (she wasn’t fond of calling them groupies, even if some were).</p><p>Especially since Wynonna was not the type to judge her for drinking more than normal as words that burned like acid replayed themselves over and over in Nicole’s head.</p><p>
  <em>“Disobedience requires punishment.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“We never wanted to do anything but love you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Have you thought about options other than university?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You could’ve done better.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“We’re not dating!”</em>
</p><p>Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to get the ghosts to leave her alone for once. She knew she had fucked up a lot in her life, and she wanted it gone, even for one night.</p><p>Without even thinking about it, she stole Wynonna’s shot.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>All Waverly wanted to do was go back to her hotel room, order some vegan ice cream, and watch one of those action movies that had a lot of people murdering a lot of other people so that she could, hopefully, live vicariously through the ones doing the killing. Normally, she wasn’t a fan of that sort of movie – she found them to be too barbaric – but she was pissed and hurt and tired, and the entire day had been one raging shitstorm after another.</p><p>She had told Champ no when he started getting pushy during their makeout session. Sure, she could let him screw her, use sex to forget about all of the awful emotions rattling around inside her chest – <em>jealousy</em> being one of the most nasty. She couldn’t even believe some of the things she’d said to Nicole.</p><p>She didn’t understand the relationship between Nicole and her parents, and if she was being truthful and not prideful, she’d admit that she was the one in the wrong. She just couldn’t get past the fact that she’d give anything to have either of her parents back, and here Nicole was, doing absolutely nothing to repair what was apparently a broken relationship between the only set of parents she had.</p><p>When she said no, Champ had gotten upset by it. He had complained that she never let him ‘get any’ anymore. She wasn’t going to objectify herself in order to soothe some of the unpleasant feelings. He called her a bitch, and she called him a moron.</p><p>It wasn’t their first fight, and it wasn’t going to be their last. She wasn’t going to throw away five years of dedication and dating just because he could be a bit obtuse sometimes, and maybe wasn’t the most faithful. Waverly wasn’t a quitter.</p><p>With full intention to go right back to her hotel room and wallow in the ugly emotions, Waverly stormed through the club that the afterparty was being held at. She’d had a couple drinks, but she was hardly even tipsy, mostly just a little buzzed. She had no interest in overdrinking tonight, and she knew that if she let herself get any more than buzzed, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself until she was well past drunk. She was an Earp, after all.</p><p>And one thing that Earps were good at was avoiding emotions.</p><p>“Red, you are <em>smashed</em>,” Wynonna’s voice just happened to say. Waverly paused, a mere few feet from the front door of the club.</p><p>Of course. Of course, Nicole would get drunk. Nicole had never gotten drunk with Peacemaker before, so of course, it stood to reason that on the one night Waverly couldn’t stand to see her or be near her, she’d get drunk.</p><p>Not that Waverly <em>wanted</em> to see Nicole drunk. Not at all. Rather, she felt a jolt of concern. She may be mad at Nicole for making her feel far too many things than one person should be able to feel at a particular time, but goddammit, she still cared about her.</p><p>With a sigh, she gave in. She turned around and followed the sound of Wynonna’s laughter.</p><p>Nicole was throwing back a shot, and judging by her slow, uncoordinated movements and the color in her face, it was far from her first. She saw Waverly, and her eyes lit up. “Waves-erly!” she gasped, and then her eyebrows drew together as she realized something wasn’t right. “Wavers-ly. Waves-ly. Wave-ly. <em>Waves</em>.”</p><p>There was an anger burning in Waverly’s heart, but there was also something softer there. She forced herself to latch onto the softer feeling, figuring that a fight with Nicole while she was drunk would be even more useless than when she was sober.</p><p>“You’re hammered, Nicole.”</p><p>“I’m not a hammer,” Nicole argued, pulling a face.</p><p>Waverly rolled her eyes. “Come on. I’m still super mad at you, you’re still in trouble, but let’s get you back to your hotel room before you do something you might regret in the morning.”</p><p>“Or someone,” came Nicole’s suggestive reply, her eyebrows quirking flirtatiously and a smug smirk pulling at her lips.</p><p>Blushing, Waverly looked away. “Yeah, or someone,” she agreed under her breath, not liking the way that one of the Earpers had been looking at Nicole like she was a piece of meat to be devoured and not an actual person.</p><p>Her hands wrapped around Nicole’s bicep, trying not to think about all of the muscle she could feel underneath the skin there, Waverly guided Nicole out of the nightclub and back towards the hotel. For her part, Nicole was surprisingly easy to get away from the party, even if she did stumble every few steps and had to lean against Waverly more than once.</p><p>Suddenly, Nicole stopped, and Waverly almost fell to the ground when she tried to keep going. Sighing, she righted herself and turned to face the redhead, who looked as if she was close to tears, for whatever reason.</p><p>“Waves,” Nicole breathed. “I don’ know ever that I ever told you this ever, but you’re so pretty. You’re jus’… You’re so pretty. You’re the prettiest.”</p><p>Waverly deflated a little, determined to ignore the pounding of her own heart. It certainly wasn’t helped by the slight southern drawl that Nicole had taken on. Waverly wondered why she would cover it up while sober - it was surprisingly attractive, not that she'd admit that out loud. “Come on. Let’s get you to a bed.”</p><p>When she started leading them forward again, Nicole allowed it, but her mouth didn’t seem to want to stay shut. “It jus’ – it makes me upset cause you don’ know – <em>hic</em> – you don’ know how pretty you are. But you <em>are</em>, and if you want, I'ma scream it from a rooftop. Cause you’re better ‘n sandwiches, you know that? You’re better ‘n <em>sandwiches.</em>”</p><p><em>Sandwiches?</em> Waverly thought, shaking her head in amusement at the drunken rambling. What was the deal with Nicole and sandwiches anyway? She made a mental note to ask her about it another time, when they weren’t mid-fight.</p><p>They made it to the hotel, but then Nicole decided that she didn’t want to go up to her hotel room. “I was havin’ fun!” she whined, feet planted firmly on the ground. She had a solid twenty or so pounds on Waverly, and it was obvious that she worked out <em>far</em> more often, so despite her best attempts, Waverly was unable to force her to move.</p><p>She decided to switch tactics, placing her hands on Nicole’s shoulders and looking up at her with pleading eyes. “I know you were, baby,” she said, blaming the pet name on the slight bit of alcohol in her own system. “We should go, though, Nicole. You’re gonna feel a lot worse in the morning if you go back to that party, trust me.”</p><p>“If I go with you, can I tell you you’re pretty some more?” Nicole asked, head cocked to the side a little bit in the most endearing way.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Nicole’s face lit up with one of her signature, breathtaking, dimpled smiles. The kind that caused Waverly’s heart to do double time, as if it weren’t already just by being this close to the redhead and all of her uninhibited comments. For a second, Waverly was stunned into silence by that radiant smile. She stammered out something unintelligible and then forced herself to look away, nearly dragging Nicole along into the elevator.</p><p>There was something about Nicole that she just couldn’t quite put her finger on. Something about her was just so disarming. She was special, but <em>how</em> she was special was impossible to discern. Suddenly, the elevator felt all too small, with Nicole’s arm brushed up slightly against hers. Waverly was confused by the ginger enigma, and she hated feeling confused more than anything else. That’s why she had become so very good at researching and finding out what she needed to know. Part of her knew, though, that she couldn’t simply <em>Google</em> what Nicole was doing to her when she would smile.</p><p>“I really like you,” Nicole said earnestly as Waverly retrieved the hotel key from Nicole’s pocket and used it to open up the room.</p><p>“Get ready for bed.”</p><p>Waverly turned to put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door, and when she turned back around, Nicole had apparently followed her advice. By discarding her shirt on the floor.</p><p>And dammit, even though Waverly had seen her in a bikini, the sight still didn’t fail to quicken her breathing. <em>What is wrong with me?</em> she sighed inwardly. Nicole perched herself on the edge of her bed and gave a very cheeky smile.</p><p>“Waves,” she dragged the word out. “Can I do somethin’ before sleep?”</p><p>“Fine. What do you want to do?”</p><p>“Close your eyes.”</p><p>Waverly frowned, not at all trusting that Nicole would be there when she opened them again, but then she obeyed for whatever godforsaken reason. She waited, listening to the shuffling as Nicole got closer, and was about to open her mouth to say something.</p><p>But then Nicole’s lips were on hers, and Waverly lost all sense of language.</p><p>Her heart skipped a beat.</p><p>Or two.</p><p>Or three.</p><p>It was hard to keep track.</p><p>Even drunk off her ass, Nicole was so very gentle. One of her hands came up to cup Waverly’s cheek, and numbly, Waverly found herself kissing back, just a little. She blamed that on the few drinks she’d consumed, too.</p><p>When Nicole pulled back, she had this dopey, starstruck smile on her face that made Waverly’s knees weak. “You’re very pretty,” she repeated with a small giggle, but all Waverly could focus on was the lingering taste of her lips and the small scar under Nicole’s left eye that she’d never seen before.</p><p>She realized, with no small amount of guilt, that there was a lot she didn’t know about Nicole. She never really asked.</p><p>Waverly’s throat was dry, and she forcibly swallowed several times to try to get it functioning again. “Let’s get you to bed,” she managed, her voice hoarse.</p><p>And Nicole allowed it. She allowed Waverly to guide her over to the bed and settle her down on it. Within seconds, it seemed, her unfocused eyes fluttered shut, and her breathing deepened. Somehow more confused than she had been before, Waverly watched her for a brief moment before sighing again and telling herself she had to get back to her own room.</p><p>She turned to leave, but then Nicole’s hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, apparently still awake. Waverly looked back down at her, and dammit if her heart didn’t break at the sudden vulnerability she saw, the likes of which she’d never seen Nicole display before.</p><p>“Are you gonna leave me?” Nicole whispered in a small voice.</p><p>Waverly had more than her fair share of abandonment issues. She had more than her fair share of being left behind. By her mother when she walked out, by her father when he died, by Willa <em>twice</em>, by Wynonna more times than she could count over the years. It hadn’t occurred to her that maybe Nicole – strong, sure Nicole – could have a few issues of her own.</p><p>It felt like she was looking at a whole different person, and it made her wonder just how much Nicole shoved beneath the surface.</p><p>Her chest tight, all Waverly could do was shake her head. “No,” she said softly. “I’m just gonna turn off the light real quick, okay?”</p><p>Nicole nodded slowly, blinking as her eyes went out of focus. By the time Waverly returned from turning off the light, Nicole was asleep again.</p><p>It would be so easy to just leave and go back to her hotel room. Maybe Champ would be there. Maybe he’d apologize. It was very unlikely, but that was where Waverly was <em>supposed</em> to be. Still, she couldn’t shake the memory of waking up on the couch the other day, nestled into Nicole’s side – how nice that felt – and she thought it would be even <em>more</em> comfortable on a bed. It wasn’t a good idea, no, not in the slightest, but Waverly climbed into the bed next to Nicole and slowly eased herself closer. Even drunkenly asleep, Nicole wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. Waverly couldn’t help but think how it felt even nicer, and more intimate, as she laid her head against Nicole’s soft chest, breathing in the lingering scent of sweat from the concert and vanilla shampoo.</p><p>She smiled and let herself melt into Nicole’s embrace.</p><p>She blamed the alcohol for that, too.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So... That, uh. That happened.</p><p>I messaged my beta in the middle of the night one of these days like 'DUDE I know what's gonna happen' and she's three hours behind me so of course she answered quickly. Speaking of my beta, shoutout to her for prereading my chapters and making sure everything's good.</p><p>I'm half asleep, full disclaimer, so I hope I don't miss anything in this note.</p><p>Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter. Sorry I didn't reply to y'all, my store right now is SEVERELY understaffed so I'm pulling hella overtime even though I'm just a 'part-time' crew member.. Honestly, it's a miracle I had this chapter written and done so early. I have my boss kinda whipped though so I got him to binge-watch the entirety of Wynonna Earp over the past few weeks. Today is my first day off since last Monday, and I won't get another off until next Monday, so I guess what I'm saying is there's a chance chapter 11 won't be done by next Monday. I will try my darnedest, but if it's not up next Monday, it'll definitely be up next Thursday. I'd promise chapter 11 will be angst-free, but I feel like we've been on this rollercoaster for a while now, and y'all know me better than that.</p><p>Also, I feel like I can't keep posting these chapters without mentioning how goddamn excited I am for season 4??? Like. I've been rewatching the entire series in what little spare time I have. It's amazing. I can't wait :D</p><p>Sorry this note is so long (Bad Hatchet), but I'm gonna end it here. Again, thanks to all of you that commented and left kudos. If y'all comment on this chapter, too, I can guarantee there'll be a better chance of me having chapter 11 ready by Monday. Until then, my lovelies.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Let's Stop Being Assholes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Welcome to another week of Dumbass Lesbians On Tour, guys. Hope you enjoy.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Come to my room. I think we should talk.</em>
</p><p>Nicole fingered the small note that was left on the desk in her hotel room. She used her free hand to rub at her forehead, trying to soothe the construction work taking place inside. She hardly remembered anything from the night before, and if the note was any indication, she definitely ran into Waverly while piss-drunk. Which… did not relieve any of her worries at all.</p><p>She had only gotten blackout drunk twice before in her life – once when she was trying it, back at that high school party, and then once after the best and worst (and, admittedly, only) breakup of her life. And now, she supposed, trying to forget about Waverly Earp.</p><p>Goddamn, did she have it bad.</p><p>Nicole closed her eyes, waiting for the aspirin to kick in so she could properly think. She knew that the note was from Waverly, even though it wasn’t signed. She’d recognize Waverly’s curvy, flowing handwriting anywhere. It was effortlessly beautiful, just like Waverly herself. She almost wished that it were Wynonna that had written the note. She could fight with Wynonna just fine, but Waverly made her hands go all sweaty and her heart act like it was in the middle of a marathon.</p><p>Waverly was right, though. They needed to talk. Nicole <em>knew</em> that she’d have to talk about her history with her parents, but the very thought of opening up and confessing her constant weakness as a child, her constant helplessness… The very thought frightened her, chilled her down to her bones. Nicole was anything but helpless, she made sure of that.</p><p>
  <em>“Your Honor, with all due respect, I recognize that I am young but I am not immature, and I am not going to cry and divulge every time I have ever felt mistreated by my parents. You have the official records before you. One year ago, I felt compelled by my situation to try to drive away in a stolen car. You also have the hospital notes, stating that I weigh significantly less than the average for my age or height, and I stand before you today, evidence of their neglect. I will not be victimized.”</em>
</p><p>She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, tousling it lightly. First thing’s first, she was going to take a shower. Her clothes reeked of alcohol, and she ached to be able to strip herself of them and wash until she could pass off as a normal, sober person again.</p><p>She turned the nozzle on the shower all the way up, letting all of the air out of the lungs as the scalding water hit the skin on her back. She breathed in the steam from the shower, pretending it could cleanse the dirty feeling that had settled in her chest. The feeling that she was nothing more than the anger that she had clung to for so many years.</p><p>When her skin was properly red and raw from the heat of the shower, she ran a soap bar over her body and washed her hair using the fake little shampoo and conditioner kept in hotels, cursing herself for forgetting her own shampoo in her bag. She turned the water off and used a fluffy white towel to dry herself off as slowly as possible, trying to delay the inevitable conversation with Waverly.</p><p>Waverly, who it was so easy to be herself around. Who it was so easy to get hurt around.</p><p>“My heart’s not gonna survive this tour,” she mused aloud to Calamity, who had poked her head through the open doorway of the bathroom to see what she was doing. “If I even last the whole tour… God, I don’t even know what I’m doing. Do I stay with Peacemaker <em>after</em> the tour? Come on, Calamity, impart your feline wisdom.”</p><p>Calamity Jane just sat down and began cleaning her privates.</p><p>“Oh, yes. Why didn’t I think of that?” Nicole deadpanned, stepping past her cat with a roll of her eyes.</p><p>Ten minutes later, she was clothed in a red flannel hanging open over a white tank top and a pair of naturally-ripped black skinny jeans, standing in front of Waverly’s hotel room door, raising her fist to knock.</p><p>Waverly took a minute or two to respond, the silence causing Nicole to doubt herself. She almost chickened out and turned back to her own room, but then the door swung open, and Waverly stood there in a lavender crop top and high-waisted leggings, a toothbrush hanging out of her mouth.</p><p>“Oh, ‘Cole!” she managed, beckoning for Nicole to follow her inside. She gestured to the bed before disappearing into the bathroom. When she returned, her hands and mouth were free, and she smiled awkwardly before sitting on the bed and patting it.</p><p>Nicole gave in, dropping her arms from their position across her chest and sitting. They were both quiet for a moment, and then –</p><p>“We need to talk – “</p><p>“Waves, I’m so sorry – “</p><p>They stopped at the same time, both blushing lightly and looking away. Nicole took a deep breath and gestured towards the brunette. “Go ahead,” she said.</p><p>Waverly sighed and ran a hand through her hair, which for the record, was really cute. “Nicole, we need to talk. I… I think we’ve had a lot of miscommunication lately, and it’s not working. At all.”</p><p>“I, uh… I agree.”</p><p>“I’m sorry, you know. For yelling at you about your parents. It’s just a… It’s a sensitive subject for me. Parents and everything.”</p><p>Nicole swallowed hard and nodded. “Me, too,” she confessed. “And I’m sorry for being an asshole and pushing you away. And… For whatever I did while I was drunk. Was I totally insufferable?”</p><p>If Nicole had been looking at Waverly and not her own hands, she would have noticed the blush that bloomed across tanned cheeks. “Not <em>totally</em>… I swear, you only flirted with me twice,” she teased.</p><p>Groaning, Nicole threw her head back. “I’m sorry, Waves,” she exhaled noisily.</p><p>Waverly smiled softly and reached a hand over to cover hers. “How about we both agree to stop being assholes to each other, hm?”</p><p>“That’s fair,” Nicole nodded with a relieved grin.</p><p>Idly, Waverly laced her fingers through the drummer’s, staring down at the interlocked hands. Nicole found herself somewhat stunned by the contrast between their complexions. Although she was sure that she spent much more time outside, Waverly was much tanner – a gorgeous, natural color, and it looked so radiant against her own pale skin. She bit her lip to hold back what could only be a stupid, lovestruck grin wanting to spread over them.</p><p>“You know,” Waverly began quietly, a sort of tenderness in her voice that hadn’t been there before. “What I realized last night is… I don’t know a whole lot about you.”</p><p>Nicole frowned, still staring down at their hands. “What a silly thought. You know lots about me. You know that I want to be a cop. I traveled a lot as a kid. I play the drums… See? That’s plenty, isn’t it?”</p><p>Waverly made a frustrated sound in the back of her throat, forcefully taking her hand back, separating them and causing Nicole to look up at her. “Anyone who follows Peacemaker knows that stuff, Nicole. I… I want to know <em>more</em>.”</p><p>Heat quickly crept up the back of Nicole’s neck and spilled over her cheeks. “There’s not much to know,” she said with an awkward cough, rubbing the back of her neck to try to relieve some of the embarrassment.</p><p>“There’s lots to know!” was Waverly’s immediate response. “Like… Like… What’s your favorite color? What’s your middle name? What was the name of your favorite high school? Did you play any sports? Besides basketball, I mean, because I’ve seen you in that school basketball shirt. Oh, and where did you – “</p><p>“Waves!”</p><p>Nicole was grinning from ear to ear, her cheeks still tinted crimson, hands held up placatingly before her. She gave a shaky sort of laugh and shook her head, making Waverly realize how carried away she’d gotten.</p><p>“Sorry…”</p><p>“It’s okay,” Nicole reassured her, awkwardly tucking a stray strand of red hair behind her ear. “Really. Some of that stuff is just, you know, things I’ve never been asked before. But…”</p><p>“But?” Waverly asked hopefully.</p><p>Nicole’s grin morphed into a soft smile and she tilted her head down a little, looking at Waverly through her lashes. “Blue. My favorite color is blue.”</p><p>A smile instantly lit Waverly’s face at the little bit of information. “What about – “</p><p>“Rayleigh.”</p><p>Waverly paused, furrowing her brow in confusion for a second. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted again.</p><p>“Hippie parents, remember? And trust me, I get the pun, too. Anyway. Blue. Rayleigh. Mountain Peak High School is the one I spent the most time at. And I was in track and marching band – and drumline, obviously – on top of basketball.”</p><p>After taking a minute to process the new information, Waverly opened her mouth to ask more, but was once again stopped, this time by Nicole’s finger pressed to her lips. Her hazel eyes went comically large and she drew back a little.</p><p>“It’s my turn,” Nicole told her authoritatively, dropping her hand back to her lap. She leaned back on her elbows, scrutinizing the brunette. “You were a cheerleader, weren’t you?”</p><p>Waverly looked away from her intense stare, feeling color flood her own cheeks. “How’d you know?” she breathed.</p><p>“I got to know a lot of cheerleaders in my time, Waves,” Nicole said, her voice low and suggestive.</p><p>“Gross.”</p><p>Nicole smirked. “I don’t think they were complaining.”</p><p>In spite of herself, Waverly felt a spike of something hot and irritating deep in her chest at the thought of Nicole screwing random cheerleaders. “What, so you were some kind of… hot redheaded succubus at your school?” she taunted, the compliment accidentally slipping out and causing her to blush harder.</p><p>“Ah, so you do think I’m hot,” Nicole teased, giving her a flirtatious wink. “But no. I mean, I kissed a lot of cheerleaders, don’t get me wrong, but sex was… Sex <em>is</em> something more intimate, I think. I don’t believe in just fucking people for the sake of it. If I’m going to open myself up to someone in that way, let them have all of me, it’s going to be because I love and trust them.”</p><p>Waverly’s eyes had drifted from Nicole’s brown ones, down to her lips, and then back to Waverly’s own hands, laying lifelessly in her lap. “I like that,” she said softly, and Nicole swore she’d give anything to know what was going through Waverly’s head right then.</p><p>“It’s my turn again,” Nicole declared after clearing her throat.</p><p>“What? No! It’s my turn.”</p><p>Nicole leaned forward and lightly tapped Waverly on her nose. “No, you asked if I was a ‘hot redheaded succubus’.”</p><p>“That doesn’t count,” Waverly argued indignantly.</p><p>“It so counts,” Nicole insisted, flashing a dimpled smile that Waverly truly couldn’t stay mad at. “What’s <em>your</em> favorite color?”</p><p>“Pink. Favorite song?”</p><p>Nicole looked away, blushing lightly. She mumbled something incoherent.</p><p>“What was that?”</p><p>“…Sweater Weather by the Neighborhood.”</p><p>Waverly’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline and she put a hand on her mouth to cover her giggle. “You’re <em>such</em> a lesbian,” she said.</p><p>“Guilty as charged,” Nicole held her hands up before her. “Favorite movie?”</p><p>“Pretty in Pink. I’m gonna ask a more serious question now, okay?”</p><p>“Oh, no,” Nicole chuckled.</p><p>“Tell me about a time when you almost made a bad decision?”</p><p>Nicole raised an eyebrow. “A bad decision like Champ?”</p><p>Waverly sputtered for a moment, and then punched her shoulder. “Just answer my question!”</p><p>“Hm… Well, there was this time that some guy offered me five hundred bucks to smuggle something across the Mexican border, and I didn’t do it, but I just remember thinking, you know… ‘That could buy me so many fucking sandwiches’.”</p><p>Waverly threw her head back in a laugh, smacking Nicole’s knee. “What is <em>with</em> you and sandwiches?” she asked once her laughter had died down to mere giggles.</p><p>At that, Nicole hesitated, turning her face upwards. She held her breath for a moment, and then let it out in a sigh. “…Okay. Okay. So.” She looked back at Waverly, her face solemn. “It is my belief that sandwiches are mankind’s greatest invention, like, ever.”</p><p>Waverly’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. “What? But… What about indoor plumbing? Electricity? Phones?” she countered, waving her phone in example.</p><p>“If you can’t eat it, I’m not interested.”</p><p>Waverly’s mouth hung open, and she looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or approach the subject seriously. “I… Sandwiches aren’t even that good?”</p><p>Nicole gasped, affronted, and placed a hand on her chest. She pointed her other hand at the brunette accusingly. “You take that back!” she cried.</p><p>“It’s true! What about, like, sweet and sour soup? Or salad? Tofu?”</p><p>“Not as good as sandwiches,” Nicole answered with a helpless shrug. She sighed again and ran a hand through her hair. “Listen, Waves. With a sandwich, you just take one or more ingredients, slap a piece of bread on each end, and bam! It’s a masterpiece. It doesn’t get any greater than that.”</p><p>“…This is a whole thing, isn’t it?”</p><p>Nicole let out an exasperated groan. “<em>Yes</em>.” She looked away for a moment, and then back again, smiling. “What was your favorite place in Purgatory?”</p><p>Waverly hesitated, and then her lips slowly curled upwards and she gave a breathy laugh. “The Homestead. I think. It’s where Wynonna and I spent our younger years. Something bad happened there with… With our dad. I still love that place, though. Especially the barn. The view of the sunrise from the loft of the barn, Nicole, I… I’ve never seen the sunrise quite so beautiful,” she sighed wistfully.</p><p>Nicole reached over and gently lifted Waverly’s chin so she was forced to meet her eyes. “You’ll have to show it to me when the tour lands us in Purgatory,” she said gently.</p><p>“That’s a promise,” Waverly murmured, her eyes once again flicking to Nicole’s lips. She cleared her throat and pulled away, her hands twisting idly in her lap. “How, uh… How did you get Calamity Jane?” she asked, her voice thick with something.</p><p>Nicole beamed at the question. “<em>Well</em>… I was walking home from school after track practice one day, and I was going a bit slower than normal because I could, you know? And I hear some of the school meatheads laughing in front of an alleyway. I just happen to pass by, and I see…” the smile dropped from her face. She frowned, her brows coming together in anger. “They were throwing rocks at this gorgeous black and white cat.”</p><p>Instinctively, Waverly extended her hand, taking Nicole’s and rubbing gentle circles over the back of it. A jolt of electricity ran up Nicole’s arm from where their hands touched, and it helped ease a bit of the fire burning inside. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes.</p><p>“She was dead, you know,” she growled, lifting her head. “They fucking killed her. I scared them off, but she was dead. There was nothing I could do for her. And then… And then I heard a little, pathetic meow. I looked around the alley, and I found this <em>tiny</em> little orange kitten, not even old enough to have her eyes open. I took her home, and after a couple of vet visits and an unholy amount of research, I was bottle-feeding her. I named her after one of my idols.”</p><p>Waverly swallowed hard, trying to keep down the emotions that surfaced from Nicole’s story and squeezed at her heart. “You’re a hero,” was all she managed to get past her sandpaper throat.</p><p>Nicole shook her head with a scoff and a wry smile. “I’m not… But thank you.”</p><p>“I’m sorry everything can be so balls sometimes.”</p><p>“That’s not your fault,” Nicole said gently, squeezing Waverly’s hand. “Everyone has balls situations in their lives. I don’t think I’ve told you how grateful I am that I’m on this crazy tour with you guys.”</p><p>“You are?” Waverly asked, something incredibly vulnerable showing in her eyes. Something that Nicole couldn’t place.</p><p>She brought Waverly’s hand up and placed a tender kiss to the back of it. “Yeah. You remember after my first concert with Peacemaker? I was <em>shaking</em>, Waves.”</p><p>“But… That was probably just adrenaline – “</p><p>“It wasn’t.”</p><p>Waverly blinked a few times, taking a deep breath and wiping at her eyes before any tears had the chance to fall. She would <em>not</em> cry in front of Nicole. She gave a shaky smile. “Charmer,” she said accusingly, though not with any sort of edge to her tone.</p><p>“Maybe,” Nicole admitted with a genuine, warm laugh. “I’m not so good when it comes to talking about emotions, and part of that is because I get overwhelmed by them really easily. But I was… God, Waves, I was at rock bottom when we met. I really don’t know what I would’ve done, where I was gonna go next, after that meeting with my advisor. You kinda saved me.”</p><p>Waverly’s cheeks turned pink and she looked pointedly down at her lap. She opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. Nicole knew one thing for sure – flustered Waverly Earp was incredibly, terribly cute. She looked just as beautiful when she blushed as she did when she smiled, or laughed, or cried. She looked just as beautiful as she did when Nicole first saw her, standing beside her booth in the coffee shop, asking to sit because everywhere else was full.</p><p>Her mouth suddenly felt dry. “What…” she started, but then had to clear her throat because of how horribly her voice cracked. “Why did you pick me? I-I mean, in the coffee shop. There were… There were a lot of other people in there, you could’ve chosen to sit at any of the booths. Why… Why me?”</p><p>Waverly took a while to do anything, her cheeks still tinted as she slowly tightened her grip on Nicole’s hand. It almost looked like she was holding her breath. She scooted forward, reaching out and pulling Nicole into an unexpected – but not at all unwelcome – hug.</p><p>Every sensible bone in Nicole’s body screamed that it was a bad idea to be so close to Waverly. She was already head over heels for this girl. This beautiful, sweet, <em>unattainable</em> girl. This wasn’t a simple crush on a pretty girl in school, this was her heart setting its gaze on a literal ray of sunshine and wonder and saying <em>yes, that one, I shall take no other</em>. Every single word that Waverly said somehow managed to make her fall even more in love, so really, hugging her and relishing in the way that her head fit so perfectly under her chin was <em>not</em> sensible, but…</p><p>Nicole supposed she’d never been all that smart, anyway.</p><p>She never did get an actual answer to the question, but she wasn’t going to complain about the turnout of the conversation.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“You look a little spooked, Nicole, are you okay?”</p><p>Nicole’s eyes flitted over to Mercedes as the fashion expert worked on perfecting her performance outfit, making sure there wasn’t a single thread out of place.</p><p>Truthfully, no. She wasn’t okay. She didn’t know why, but that morning, on their last day of performing in Tallahassee, she had woken up with the most awful feeling in her gut. It wasn’t a feeling of sickness, but more… dread. Foreboding. She’d been on edge the entire day, jumping at every little noise and touch.</p><p>“I’m fine.”</p><p>Mercedes looked unconvinced, but she merely hummed and finished adjusting the gloves over Nicole’s hands. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter to me that much anyway,” she said with a shrug before placing Nicole’s signature white Stetson on her head. “There we go. Gorgeous. Ready to kick some more ass?”</p><p>Nicole nodded, even managing an encouraging smile. “Like always,” she winked.</p><p>Mercedes made a noise of approval and then wandered off to wrestle Wynonna into her outfit.</p><p>Closing her eyes, Nicole tried to center herself. It was an off day. That’s all it was. Everyone was prone to end up with an off day every now and again. Though, she’d admit that she’d never had a bad day give her such a feeling of anxiety, like she <em>knew</em> something was going to happen, but she couldn’t figure out what. She opened her eyes again and rubbed at the back of her neck. Either way, as the famous saying went, the show would go on.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They were halfway through their set when the gunshot sounded.</p><p>Really, launching herself over her drum set and knocking the Earp sisters out of the way of the bullet’s path wasn’t something Nicole even needed to think about.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*cough* Hatchet? Who's Hatchet? I don't know her.</p><p>Episode one was SO GOOD y'all! I'm dying, I can't wait to watch it again! I'm not gonna spoil anything in case some of y'all haven't been able to watch it yet, but... holy crap. It was so good. I have so many questions and theories and ugh. My beta, Mvphoenix, hasn't watched it yet because she worked last night, and I'm literally going to self-combust because I NEED to talk to her about it.</p><p>Speaking of my beta, shoutout to her for listening to me ramble and helping me with this fic.</p><p>Also, shoutout to all of you that commented last chapter! All of your comments made me very happy to read, and I hope you all leave your thoughts on chapter eleven, too &lt;3</p><p>Chapter twelve should definitely be up next Monday. As a thanks for my overtime the past couple weeks, my boss has given me a little mini-vacation of three days (which, honestly, is a lot considering I was working 6 days a week), so it's possible chapter twelve will be up this Thursday, just keep an eye out! As always, thanks for being lovely, my wonderful readers, and I hope to see y'all soon! :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. I'd Do It Again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A lot of things happened at once, the entire stadium erupting into chaos.</p><p>The Earpers were confused at first, thinking that the gunshot was surely part of Peacemaker’s special effects, like the fake one before Wynonna’s entrance was, but they noticed Nicole falling on top of Wynonna, Waverly having slid across the stage a little from the force in which she was hit, and a small spurt of red erupt from Nicole’s back, and very quickly, their screams of joy and adrenaline turned to ones of fear and confusion.</p><p>At least three dozen security guards swarmed the crowd, blocking exits, and six more rushed onto the stage. All three members of Peacemaker could only blink in bewilderment at what had just happened as they were practically carried backstage.</p><p>Nicole was the first one to snap out of it, one hand reaching behind and touching the burning sensation on the back of her left shoulder. Her hand returned bloody, and she grit her teeth together. “Get off of me,” she growled to one of the security guards, shoving him back.</p><p>Backstage was supposed to be cooler, but she felt like the walls were closing in, and the guards were surrounding her, making her feel like a cornered animal. Another one tried to move her further away from the stage, but she lashed out, decking him.</p><p>“Haught, what the <em>fuck</em>?” Wynonna hissed, though her face betrayed more vulnerability than anger. It was a strange look on her, one that Nicole wasn’t sure she’d ever seen before.</p><p>“Nicole!” Waverly shouted then, breaking out of her own daze and noticing the line of red dripping down Nicole’s back. She extended a hand towards it, but then drew back, her radiant hazel eyes wide and clouded with fear.</p><p>“Keep moving,” one of the guards grunted, ushering them through a doorway and down a hallway.</p><p>Nicole snarled at another one that got too close to touching her, not sure she could handle a random man’s hands on her with her mind in overdrive. “Someone fucking shot at you!”</p><p>Tears began to fall down Waverly’s cheeks as she clenched and unclenched her hands distraughtly. Wynonna’s face twisted in anger and she reached out, looping an arm with Waverly’s and talking to her in a soft voice.</p><p>They ended up in a medical-looking room. Honestly, Nicole didn’t even know that they <em>had</em> a medical room in the stadium, or a doctor, but when the no-nonsense-looking woman approached her, she felt her heart rate calm down a little bit.</p><p>“Hello there, Miss Haught. I’m Dr. Perley, but you can just call me Gretta. Can I take a look at your shoulder?”</p><p>Nicole rolled her eyes, but with less people in the room, it felt like she could breathe again, so she allowed the doctor to walk her over to an exam chair and sit her down on it. “The bullet’s not in there,” she said. “Honestly, it just nicked me. I’ll be fine.”</p><p>“But you got shot!” Waverly protested.</p><p>“I got grazed.”</p><p>“Guys, what the fuck is even happening?”</p><p>Nicole raised an eyebrow at Wynonna, who seemed to be getting more distressed and yes, even more angry. “I told you, someone shot at you.”</p><p>“And you just happened to know the very moment they were going to shoot?”</p><p>Nicole drew back in disgust at the implications, and then failed to suppress a wince as Dr. Perley applied some ointment to the burning sensation on the back of her shoulder. “What are you saying, Wynonna?” she nearly growled.</p><p>Wynonna stepped forward, her eyes flashing dangerously. “I’m saying that it’s real suspicious, don’t you think?”</p><p>“Guys, the situation is already scary, can we not fight?”</p><p>They both ignored Waverly’s desperate plea. Nicole pushed herself off of the table, paying no mind to Dr. Perley’s frustrated sigh as she interrupted her work. Standing to her full height, Nicole glared down at Wynonna. “I just saved your life, Earp. From where I got hit, it was aimed at <em>you</em>. Maybe try being grateful.”</p><p>“Oh, right. Like I’m expected to believe that <em>that</em> wasn’t intentional, too. You’ve been real chummy with my sister, Haught, but I’m not gonna fall for your reindeer games.”</p><p>“What are you even talking about?” Nicole sighed in exasperation.</p><p>“Whoever you’re working for, Haught, you’re never gonna get your filthy little hands on that gun.”</p><p>Now, Nicole was completely lost. “What gun?”</p><p>“Peacemaker!” Wynonna shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. “Peacemaker, Peacemaker! It’s all about fucking Peacemaker!”</p><p>“I… Peacemaker is the band, though?”</p><p>Wynonna opened her mouth –</p><p>“I think it was Bobo.”</p><p>…and promptly closed it, turning to Waverly with an unmasked look of rage. “<em>Bobo</em>? What does that shitticket want with us now?”</p><p>Waverly looked nervously between them, her hands twisting together in front of her. She hesitated, holding her breath until she nearly turned blue, and then blurted out, “Bobo visited me in Austin.”</p><p>“He <em>what</em>?” Wynonna shouted. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”</p><p>Waverly fidgeted, her eyes welling with tears. In spite of the emotion-wrought air between them all, Nicole longed to reach out and comfort her. “I – He – We were having so much fun,” her voice cracked. “I didn’t think he would… That he would actually…”</p><p>She was saved from having to say anything more when the door burst open. Rosita barged in, looking just as pissed as Wynonna, with an anxious Jeremy right behind her.</p><p>“They caught him,” Rosita wasted no time in saying. “Couple of the Earpers tackled him before he could escape.”</p><p>“Who is it?” Wynonna growled.</p><p>Rosita shot her a look. “<em>Malcolm.</em> From the Revenants.”</p><p>With a furious shout, Wynonna turned and knocked a bunch of instruments off of a nearby cart. “Fucking fuck shitballs. I’m going to fucking destroy Bobo Del Ray. Let me talk to him. Let me talk to Malcolm.”</p><p>“Trust me, Doc’s already ‘talking’ to him. We’re all furious, Wynonna, we just have to deal with this.” Rosita turned to Nicole, who had, in lack of anything else to do, returned to the exam table and let Dr. Perley go back to cleaning the graze. “Are you okay?”</p><p>“Mostly just really confused,” Nicole admitted. “And once everything calms down, I want some answers.”</p><p>“You’ll get them,” Waverly promised.</p><p>Jeremy looked anxiously between the four women before speaking up. “Uh, guys, I have Dolls on the phone. He wants to talk to you.”</p><p>Nicole grit her teeth, suffocating in the tension that was filling the air. She ran a hand through her hair with a frustrated growl but bit her tongue, not wanting to say anything when she knew that it would only add more tension into the mix. Dr. Perley was still working on her shoulder, having switched from cleaning the wound to stitching it up. The pain hardly even bothered her.</p><p>If anything, it grounded her. With far too many people filling the small room and far too much confusion and chaos about, the pain kept her sane. It kept her from losing her head like everyone else.</p><p>Jeremy nervously stepped forward, holding his phone out.</p><p>“Haught,” came Dolls’ authoritative voice from the other end of the call. He paused, sighing. “Are you alright?”</p><p>“I really wish people would stop asking me that,” she muttered under her breath. “I’m fine, sir. It’s a scratch. You should be more concerned with the shooter.”</p><p>Dolls grunted. “Earp,” he barked.</p><p>With a sigh, Wynonna half-raised a hand, using the other to wave her sister away from the phone. She took the phone and turned it off speaker, holding it up to her ear. “Yeah, Dolls, it’s me. Yeah. You’re off speaker. I know. <em>Fuck</em>, Dolls, I don’t know! It’s not like I – “</p><p>She cut herself off, shooting a glare at all of the other snooping band members. She presented her middle finger to them all as she walked out into the hallway, holding the phone closer to her ear. Rosita glanced between the guitarist and drummer still in the room, and then grabbed Jeremy’s arm and dragged him out of the room, as well.</p><p>Leaving Nicole with Waverly (and Dr. Perley, but she seemed to be just fine minding her own business).</p><p>Waverly looked like she was put together with tape and glue, tears still shining in her eyes and arms wrapped tightly around her chest. She was a strong woman – Nicole knew she was – but the night had shaken her up, and it had shaken her up badly.</p><p>When Dr. Perley left her shoulder alone briefly to get bandages from the other side of the medical room, Nicole opened her arms, and Waverly broke.</p><p>“Okay, Waves, come on,” Nicole gave a small chuckle, adjusting the small brunette into a more comfortable position.</p><p>“You were – and then it – and I thought – but then you – and I couldn’t see – and I saw the blood – and you – “ Waverly stammered, hiccupping. She only stopped when her voice tightened to the point of which she couldn’t get any more half-formed sentences out.</p><p>Nicole placed her chin on Waverly’s shoulder, taking an indulgent, illegal moment to revel in the feeling of how nicely their bodies fit together, like two pieces of a puzzle. “Shh, it’s alright. Everyone’s okay, my love, everyone’s alright.” She was suddenly very glad for Waverly’s face buried in her uninjured shoulder so she couldn’t see how red Nicole’s got at the slipped term of endearment.</p><p>Dr. Perley stayed back, letting them have their moment, and Nicole shot her a grateful look over her shoulder. When Waverly had composed herself enough, she pulled back, and Nicole didn’t hesitated before wiping the tears from her cheeks, smiling softly.</p><p>“I…” Waverly started, and then cleared her throat. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Hey, you don’t have to apologize. I’m always here for you.”</p><p>Waverly sighed, wiping at her own eyes and shaking her head. “I’m being silly. It just… It just reminded me of that night… The one when my father died.”</p><p>Nicole felt her heart tighten, and she got the strange, inexplicable urge to cry as well, because Waverly Earp had dealt with too much shit in her life, she’d gone through too much pain, and she still managed to be a beautiful, sweet, and amazing person in spite of it. She didn’t even seem to struggle with the same buried anger that Nicole did at times – she effortlessly radiated warmth, and Nicole was convinced that there was no one in the world more innately <em>good</em> than Waverly Earp.</p><p>She resisted the urge to cry, but not the one to bring Waverly back in for another hug. “I’m so sorry, Waverly,” she whispered. “You’re not being silly, don’t you dare think that.”</p><p>“I know,” Waverly mumbled, but Nicole could feel tears on her bare shoulder again.</p><p>The door burst open, and Waverly leaped back two feet, almost as if she’d been burned. The thought caused a sinking feeling in the pit of Nicole’s stomach, and she had to work to keep her face blank as she looked towards a raging Wynonna. In the meantime, Dr. Perley made quick work of bandaging her shoulder, blessedly not mentioning what had just occurred between Nicole and the youngest Earp. Or not occurred – it was really all too confusing.</p><p>Wynonna didn’t say anything at first, only held out Jeremy’s phone, her face nearly red with anger. “They’re here, Dolls,” she said shortly.</p><p>“Good,” he replied calmly. “Haught, Earp, I was just telling Wynonna that in light of tonight’s events, we’re having to postpone the tour. My superiors estimate you’ll have to stay in Tallahassee for a week with 24/7 security. After a week of lockdown, Peacemaker will be back on the road, with the addition of a security car traveling behind each of the buses. There will also be more security at the events.”</p><p>“That sounds fair,” Nicole nodded.</p><p>“But what about all of the concerts we’ve sold tickets for?” Waverly asked.</p><p>“The events aren’t being cancelled, they’re being moved. We’re offering refunds for the people who have purchased tickets but are unable to attend the date that their concert was moved to. With how popular Peacemaker is, it’s expected that concerts will remain sold out. If anything, Peacemaker is even more popular after tonight.”</p><p>“Fucking crackheads…”</p><p>“How is that possible?”</p><p>Dolls sighed on the other end. “It’s exciting. It’s all over the news. More people hear about Peacemaker, more spread, more people listening to your music.”</p><p>“Oh,” Waverly said, looking down, and Nicole had to once again resist the urge to reach out to her.</p><p>
  <em>We’re not dating!</em>
</p><p>That’s what Waverly had said. Nicole took a deep breath and gave her head a small shake to clear it. This wasn’t the time to think about that.</p><p>“I’ve been working with the advertising team, and we’re going to make use of Peacemaker’s lockdown in Tallahassee,” Dolls continued. “Haught, you have an in-person interview regarding tonight at one in the afternoon tomorrow. We’re sending the location to Shorty, he’ll drive you in a rented Toyota. Expect security there, too.”</p><p>Nicole sighed and ran a hand through her hair. More people trying to make her into a victim. Great. “Sounds good, sir,” she said regardless.</p><p>“There will be a photo shoot on Saturday morning for new Peacemaker posters, including your new drummer, so that means no getting piss-drunk the night before, <em>Earp.</em>”</p><p>Wynonna clenched her jaw and held out her middle finger to the phone, even though Dolls couldn’t see it.</p><p>“Put that finger down.”</p><p>“Damn,” she cursed. “You know me too well, Dolls.”</p><p>“Yeah, unfortunately. And Earp?” he said with a softer tone, clearly to Waverly. “You three will be recording your new song on Friday morning. Get some rest tonight, girls. It’s been a rough concert.” With that, he ended the call.</p><p>For a while, no one said anything. All three members of Peacemaker stared hard at the ground, not sure how to broach the subject of what had happened. The silence was only broken briefly by Dr. Perley clearing Nicole to go whenever she was ready.</p><p>Wynonna made a noise of frustration and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Baby girl?” she said with a sickly-sweet smile in Waverly’s direction.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“Let’s go wreck Malcolm.”</p><p>A slow grin spread over Waverly’s face. “Oh, I love when you talk dirty to me,” she joked, and then grabbed Nicole’s hand, dragging her along as the two Earps stormed through the halls.</p><p>“Okay, but who’s Malcolm?” Nicole asked pathetically. “Besides the one who made the shot?”</p><p>She was ignored, and she huffed, clinging onto Waverly’s promise that she would get answers. She hated being in the dark, not knowing something that everyone else seemed to know. For a moment, she let herself wonder how different her life would have been if she had grown up in a small town like Purgatory, too. If it would’ve been better.</p><p>She’d mostly lived in cities when her parents would settle down for a month or two at a time, but she could see herself as a small-town cop, keeping the streets safe in a close-knit community. She’d never really wanted to settle down in a big, bustling city anyway – there were always too many people, and she would feel suffocated no matter where she went. Schools were worse, with more kids in her grade than she could ever hope to know the name of, and more people to form their wild opinions of her.</p><p>The room that Wynonna led them to was a bit more buried into the halls of the stadium, and Doc was standing guard outside, his arms crossed over his chest and lips drawn into a thin line.</p><p>“Don’t you worry, darlin’,” he said to Wynonna, “I left him mostly unharmed.”</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>Wynonna reached down into her boots and pulled a pocketknife out from each, holding them out to her bandmates. Waverly took it, tucking it into her bra, but Nicole held her hands out before her and shook her head. “That seems highly illegal,” she refused.</p><p>“Spoilsport,” Wynonna grumbled, wielding the pocketknife in her own hand as she kicked the door off of its hinges.</p><p>“So does that…” Nicole muttered under her breath.</p><p>The man inside looked greasy and unkempt, a makeshift eyepatch covering his left eye. He licked his lips, visible eye sparkling, when the three members of the band entered. “Well, Wynonna Earp, I’ll be damned,” he purred.</p><p>“Save it, dipshit.”</p><p>Malcolm cocked his head to the side, smile widening. “Bobo sends his regards,” he continued, and then his gaze flicked over to Nicole. “Though I suppose it landed on the wrong patch of flesh.”</p><p>Waverly stepped forward. A horrible crunching sound echoed through the room as her fist connected with Malcolm’s nose. “Don’t you talk about her that way,” she growled.</p><p>“Waves, hey, it’s alright,” Nicole insisted, gently grabbing Waverly by the shoulders and pulling her back before she could get another hit in.</p><p>“Well, you can tell Bobo that he can go suck a big ol’ bag of dicks, because he’s not getting anything from us,” Wynonna remarked.</p><p>“Bobo doesn’t want anything except for you to make things right,” Malcolm explained, his voice nasally as he held his bleeding, likely broken nose. “Peacemaker should have ended a long time ago. Of course, he’d also take the gun in exchange for the emotional turmoil you’ve so carelessly put him through.”</p><p>Wynonna hit him this time, right across his jaw. “That gun belongs to the Earps,” she snarled.</p><p>“You both should really stop hitting him,” Nicole tried again.</p><p>Waverly huffed and turned to face her, face pleading. “Nicole, you don’t understand – “</p><p>“I don’t,” she agreed immediately. “Maybe you should enlighten me?”</p><p>Waverly bit her lip, sharing a hesitant look with Wynonna.</p><p>“Don’t do it…”</p><p>“Our father was a cop,” Waverly started, ignoring her sister’s warning. “A sheriff. He, uh… He played dirty. And… There was this gang in Purgatory, called the Revenants. Super dangerous, led by this guy who just went by Lou. Bobo Del Ray was his second-in-command. Our father had very few sober days in our lifetimes, but somehow he came up with a scheme, and from what I’ve heard, it was just crazy enough to work. I suppose the logic was that when you cut the head off a chicken, it runs around aimlessly.”</p><p>“He didn’t count on Bobo Del fucking Ray stepping up once Lou was gone,” Wynonna growled. “Bobo arranged an attack on our home. That’s it. That’s all you need to know.”</p><p>Nicole glanced between them in confusion, all three of them ignoring Malcolm’s dark laughter. “But that doesn’t explain why he’d attack now,” she pointed out.</p><p>“You forgot to mention the whore,” Malcolm sneered.</p><p>“Willa was <em>not</em> a whore!” Wynonna shouted, opening her pocketknife and lunging for him.</p><p>Nicole was only just about to catch her arm and hold the kicking, squirming Earp in her arms. Her shoulder burned, and she was fairly certain she had torn a stitch <em>already</em>, but well. It was better than having Peacemaker’s lead singer go to jail for assault. “Wynonna! Calm down!”</p><p>Wynonna continued fighting, to the point of which Waverly had to jump in. Together, they managed to restrain her, bending her over a table in the corner of the room.</p><p>“You can’t kill him, Nona,” Waverly hissed.</p><p>“The authorities are going to take care of him,” Nicole reassured her. “He’s pretty much admitted to the shooting.”</p><p>Wynonna growled and wrenched herself away from them. She shot them both a glare before stalking off. Four security guards entered the room and grabbed Malcolm, taking him away and leaving Nicole alone with Waverly, <em>again</em>.</p><p>Waverly bit her lip and opened her mouth to say something, but Nicole just shook her head. There was nothing to be said.</p><p>She took Waverly’s hand and started leading the way out of the stadium, listening to the sounds of the city on the walk back to the hotel – which, thankfully, wasn’t too far from the venue. Nicole wasn’t sure she could handle much more tension.</p><p>Truthfully, all she wanted to do was lay down in bed with her cat and forget about the shooting and the pain on the back of her shoulder and whoever this Bobo Del Ray gang leader was.</p><p>It was true what she said earlier, that the bullet was aimed for Wynonna, but that didn’t change the fact that for a split second, Nicole had felt her blood turn to ice when she heard the gunshot, fearing above all else that someone was aiming for Waverly. That someone wanted to hurt Waverly. Even though they were on opposite sides of the stage, she knew that she had to get to Waverly and knock her out of her spot.</p><p>“I’d do it again.”</p><p>“What was that?” Waverly asked, coming to a stop right outside of the hotel.</p><p>Nicole blinked in surprise, realizing that she must’ve said it out loud. She shook her head and offered a reassuring smile. “Nothing. I didn’t say anything. I’ll see you in the morning, Waves, okay?”</p><p>Without waiting for a response, she ducked her head and entered the hotel, briskly crossing the lobby and taking the stairs to reduce any chance of her being stuck in an elevator with the gorgeous brunette, because she didn’t know if she’d be able to hold her tongue any longer that night.</p><p>Once in her hotel room, she changed into sweatpants, brushed her teeth, and laid down on the soft comforter of the fluffy, queen-sized bed. She smiled up at the ceiling, because even though the night certainly could have gone better, she felt victorious. Waverly was okay. She was <em>safe</em>. It didn’t matter whether the bullet had grazed Nicole’s shoulder or whether it had buried itself deep in her heart, because Waverly was safe.</p><p>“I’d do it again,” she whispered to herself again right before succumbing to sleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm...not too happy with this chapter, y'all.</p><p>I'm sorry this is being posted so late today, my beta hasn't even had a chance to read it because I literally just finished it. It was honestly a hard chapter to write, and I scrapped each scene at least two times.</p><p>So... I'd really appreciate some feedback on this chapter. I know I say that, like, every chapter, but this one especially. Cause I'm not feeling too good about it.</p><p>Also, you know, episode two was fantastic, and the amount of Nicole was overwhelmingly amazing, and I love Kat and Dom (not as a couple, as actresses!). That's all, good night. (It's 3 in the afternoon).</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Mending Bridges</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Also known as, 'Fucking Finally'</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Her mother had made a big show over being worried and upset about her, but Nicole had brushed her off, just like always.</p><p>They were lounging in the tour bus for a few hours while their hotel rooms got cleaned. Since, technically, they had to check out in the morning only to re-rent the rooms. Nicole wasn’t sure why they couldn’t just extend their stay, but the hotel was strict on its policy.</p><p>The tour bus wasn’t very big, really. It was plenty of room for Wynonna, Waverly, and Nicole, but adding Nicole’s parents into the mix made it a bit uncomfortable. And Nicole had never been much a fan of small spaces. She was sitting on one end of the couch, Waverly in the middle, and her mother on the other side. Wynonna was still sleeping in her bunk, absolutely dead to the world, and Nicole’s father was leaning up against the kitchen counter.</p><p>She was trying very, very hard to ignore the presence of her parents, instead focusing on the television, which was playing <em>The Office</em>. Waverly’s choice, though not one that Nicole really minded all that much.</p><p>“Here’s a picture of our baby girl at the beach one time,” her mother was saying, pulling said picture out of her purse. “She was playing with the sand, always getting dirty. Wasn’t she just precious?”</p><p>Nicole rolled her eyes. She knew the picture being shown, and she was pretty sure it’s the only one her parents ever took of her, and to be honest, they had only took it for the sunset occurring in the background, not for her. She just happened to be in the way. Something that they had then ‘punished’ her for.</p><p>Waverly got quiet, taking the picture into her hands and running her thumb over it. She glanced at the drummer, and then back at the picture. Nicole was trying not to pay attention, but then Waverly shifted closer to her and held out the picture. “Is this you?” she asked, her voice very slightly hoarse – just subtle enough that it would be unnoticeable to anyone who didn’t know Waverly.</p><p>Resigning herself to being pulled away from the tv, Nicole glanced over at the picture, confirming that it was the one she thought. In it, she had been holding a bunch of seaweed she collected before her proudly, trying to show her parents. “Mhm,” was all she said before looking away again, because somehow, seeing pictures of her past just hurt <em>worse</em>.</p><p>Waverly turned back to her mother, clutching the picture closer to herself. “Can I hold onto this?”</p><p>“Of course, dear. We’ve got plenty more copies.”</p><p>Just then, Waverly’s phone rang, causing her to jump. She quickly folded the picture and retreated to the bedroom, closing the door securely behind her.</p><p>Nicole shifted slightly, trying to ignore her mother’s gaze, which was now focused on her. She had never actually been in a church in her life – she had always smoked cigarettes behind them instead – but for a second, she actually prayed that her mom wouldn’t say anything to her. A feeble, useless prayer, it turned out.</p><p>“How was your interview this morning, darling?”</p><p>Well, the interview had gone fine. She had been convinced that an in-person interview would be harder than the phone one, but it was almost easier instead, with someone in front of her that she could connect to. As much as you could connect with a stranger, anyway.</p><p>“There’s no one here, mother. Don’t pretend you care,” she said instead, one hand idly playing with the small stud in her nose.</p><p>“Fine,” her mother replied with a shrug.</p><p>“Hey, Nicole? It’s Dolls. He wants to talk to both of us.”</p><p>Nicole let out a sigh of relief at Waverly’s voice. She didn’t even hesitate before getting up and making her way into the bedroom, where she found Waverly, sitting on the bed.</p><p>“I can’t believe you left me alone in there with her,” she joked with a half-smile, but instead of laughing, Waverly looked away and bit her lip, her expression unreadable. “So, what’s up?”</p><p>“Haught,” Dolls’ voice greeted her from the phone. “Good. There’s something I need to talk to you two about, and I didn’t really want Wynonna to hear until I get your input on it.”</p><p>“Sure, what is it?”</p><p>Dolls audibly sighed. “Have either of you heard of ‘Wayhaught’?”</p><p>They shared a confused look. “No?” Waverly answered.</p><p>“Well… Some of the Earpers have taken to, how do you say, ‘ship’ the two of you together? Does that make any sense to either of you?” Judging by the way they both blushed and looked away from each other, Nicole would say that yeah, they both knew what it meant.</p><p>Waverly cleared her throat, one hand coming up to rub at the back of her neck. “Wh-why would anyone do that?” she stammered.</p><p>“I’m guessing it has to do with how flirty Nicole is. And then the phone interview, where you two teased each other.”</p><p>“But that doesn’t mean…” Nicole tried, her voice quickly dying out. Fuck. If random strangers were able to see her attraction to Waverly, then she was screwed, wasn’t she? After all, Waverly was a pretty smart woman. It wouldn’t be long before Waverly came to the same supposition.</p><p>“Regardless,” Dolls said. “The marketing team thinks it could be a huge selling point for the band. They’ve already sent the memo out to the photography team for Saturday. Don’t worry, no one’s asking you two to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”</p><p>Nicole cleared her throat and gave her head a little shake. “What are you asking, then?”</p><p>“Just… play into it. Be flirty. Make people ship you more.”</p><p>Nicole chanced a look at Waverly, and immediately wanted to look away because of the utter humiliation she saw on her face. Like it was some great, absolute embarrassment for people to think that Waverly liked her.</p><p>“Do we have to?” Waverly asked, her voice strained.</p><p>“You don’t have to say it like that…”</p><p>Dolls sighed again. “The marketing team says yes. I say, don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with. Just some light flirting, smiles sent each other’s way, nothing different than what you’ve been doing already. Sound good?”</p><p>“Yes, sir,” they mumbled together.</p><p>“Good.” He ended the call.</p><p>For perhaps the first and only time in her life, Nicole wished she were with her parents rather than Waverly, because Waverly’s reaction to what the marketing team wanted fucking <em>hurt</em>. It hurt worse than the goddamn wound on the back of her shoulder, and she might even venture so far as to say that it hurt worse than her parents being back, and everything they did to her.</p><p>She was already head over heels for this tiny, cute guitarist, and even though no confessions had been made, it felt like a rejection.</p><p>Nicole bit her cheek, staring pointedly down at her hands. “You know, it’s…” she started, but then had to clear her throat. “It’s not that horrifying a thought, to be… You know, with me.”</p><p>Waverly sighed and pressed a hand to her neck. “I-I know, and I’m not… I’m not horrified, Nicole, I promise. I’m just trying to wrap my head around it. I swear, it’s not you. It’s me, I’m… I’m worried. Uh, about Champ.”</p><p>“Yeah, no, that makes sense…” Nicole agreed, even though it really didn’t make all that much sense to her. She scratched at her jaw and bit the inside of her cheek, and then forced a smile that she couldn’t make reach her eyes. “Don’t worry about it. Really. I, uh, I’ve gotta go. Gotta go… Run. Yeah. Run.”</p><p>All Waverly could do was watch as Nicole practically fled the room, and likely the bus.</p><p>Waverly groaned, hitting her head back against the bedrest. Everything was far, far too confusing, and the folded picture was burning a hole in her pocket.</p><p>She took it out, biting her lip to keep the prompted tears at bay.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As it turned out, Nicole didn’t actually make it out of the tour bus before being stopped. Wynonna pretty much vaulted over the back of the couch, apparently having just woken up and looking only partially awake.</p><p>“Haughstuff,” she said, and then yawned widely. “Where are you going?”</p><p>“Out.”</p><p>Wynonna blinked sleep out of her eyes and then studied her. “Okay,” she shrugged, following Nicole as she left the tour bus at a much more normal pace.</p><p>Nicole didn’t question it as Wynonna walked alongside her down the broken sidewalk. She kept her head down and counted each crack, something that she had done when she was younger to distract herself from the constant hunger from her parents’ neglect.</p><p>She couldn’t say she had been expecting Wynonna to come with her, because she hadn’t, but it was actually somewhat pleasant to have her company as they walked in silence. Which was not typical of Wynonna’s presence.</p><p>But the brunette was quieter than usual. She kept working her jaw and staring straight ahead, as if she were trying to work up the courage for something. Wynonna had always been a brazen and, some would say, arrogant person, so seeing her so subdued was off-putting, to say the least.</p><p>The air was humid, and Nicole began to wonder why she had ever thought going outside would be a good idea. That was the only decent thing about Arizona, she supposed. The summers were hot as fuck and often rivaled the temperatures of Satan’s asshole, but at least there was little to no humidity.</p><p>It was sort of by chance that she’d ended up staying in Tucson, Arizona. She’d only done it because of a certain high school coach that had been insistent on helping her get away from her neglectful parents.</p><p>“What’s up with you?” she finally asked, wanting to get away from her own thoughts before they led back to the guitarist that had just broken her heart.</p><p>Wynonna scratched at her nose and looked pointedly away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”</p><p>“Sure, you do, Earp. I know you’re normally more tired in the mornings, but I don’t think I’ve ever been alone with you for this long without an insult or two in the mix.”</p><p>“Well… Some could consider that an insult, so there.”</p><p>Nicole stopped, reaching a hand out and grabbing Wynonna’s arm so that she’d have to stop, too. “Come on, Wynonna,” she said, her tone gentler. “What’s going on?”</p><p>She didn’t miss the way that Wynonna’s eyes flicked briefly to her shoulder.</p><p>“Not here,” Wynonna growled, wrenching her arm away and stalking off. Nicole followed with a sigh, completely at a loss for anything else to do.</p><p>Wynonna led her through the streets, checking Google Maps every so often to make sure she was going in the right direction – not that she told Nicole where they were going. At one point, Wynonna got frustrated with the slow service of her data provider and threw her phone on the ground, stating that they were going to find their own way to their destination.</p><p>Which, as Nicole discovered about twenty minutes later, was the beach. It was a bit ironic, since the three of them had planned to go to the beach together the morning after their last concert in Tallahassee anyway.</p><p>The distinct lack of people struck Nicole. Surely, a summer day would be packed with families, wouldn’t it? She glanced around and noticed a ‘no trespassing sign’ on the fence that Wynonna was currently climbing over.</p><p>“Wynonna!” she hissed. “This is private property, we’re not allowed to be here.”</p><p>“Ugh, there’s that pickle in your ass again,” Wynonna groaned. “Come on, Haught. You almost died last night. Live a little, won’t you?”</p><p> Nicole huffed, but placed her foot in one of the holes and began climbing as well. She caught Wynonna when she almost fell off while crossing over, and a minute later, they had both landed safely and unbrokenly in the sand on the other side.</p><p>“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Nicole grumbled as she followed Wynonna through the sand towards the water.</p><p>Halfway there, Wynonna stopped and plopped down on the ground. Nicole hesitated, but then followed suit, keeping a foot or two of space in between them.</p><p>She waited for Wynonna to say something, dragging her fingers idly through the sand. It wasn’t the first time she’d been to the beach, not by a long shot, but she had to admit it’d been almost a decade.</p><p>After what had to be a few solid minutes, Wynonna sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I shot my father.”</p><p>Nicole blinked in surprise, her brow furrowing as she tried to process the information that had just been dumped on her. It occurred to her that she didn’t actually know how their father died – only that it happened during an attack on their home.</p><p>Wynonna cleared her throat and went on. “I mean, I wasn’t aiming for him. I was aiming for the guy that had a knife to his throat. I was twelve, though, and I guess I wasn’t very good of a shot. Hit our dad. He, uh, he was an asshole anyway.”</p><p>“That doesn’t mean he wasn’t your father,” Nicole said gently. Hypocritically.</p><p>“Yeah… Yeah. I still loved that asshole. When I shot him, our older sister, Willa, got so scared that she ran off. We thought she got killed, or taken by the Revenants. She showed up out of nowhere almost a year ago and she was super evasive when we asked where she’d been. She just showed up and insisted we start a band. She wanted to call it Peacemaker, after our father’s gun. Passed down in the family since great ol’ outlaw-slaying Wyatt.” She got quiet again, looking down. “The one I shot him with.”</p><p>Wynonna sighed and began digging through the sand, as if to give her hands something to do. “Waverly was this tiny little thing, you know. She told it like she saw it, telling the authorities that I had shot him. And the Revenants, you know, they covered their tracks. The sheriff’s department couldn’t find any evidence they’d been there.”</p><p>Nicole thought back to what Waverly had said about the songs, about how Demons was based off of Wynonna’s life. “And… They put you in a mental institution?” she guessed, her voice slightly hoarse.</p><p>“Bingo.”</p><p>“Why are you telling me this?”</p><p>Wynonna clenched and unclenched her jaw, clearly uncomfortable with the level of emotion-sharing occurring between the two of them. Nicole couldn’t say she was entirely comfortable either, though helping someone else work through their emotions was a hell of a lot easier than working through her own.</p><p>“You saved my life last night, Haught,” was all Wynonna said, and it sort of looked like it physically pained her to say it. “So, I guess what I’m trying to say is… thanks. I guess.”</p><p>That definitely took a couple years off of Wynonna’s life, Nicole thought. She could see the brunette’s soul slowly wither and die as she confessed to being grateful for her presence.</p><p>Of course, she<em> could</em> go ahead and rub her face in it, but Nicole knew that that wouldn’t end well at all, so she just beamed at Wynonna and bumped her shoulder. “Hey,” she chuckled warmly. “You don’t have to thank me for having a giant pickle up my ass.”</p><p>Wynonna grinned. “Finally, she’s seeing the light,” she taunted.</p><p>“I guess I was just on edge all night,” Nicole confessed, the hint of a smile still on her face. “I knew something bad was going to happen. It’s like when I was about to start season two of <em>Last Man Standing</em> a few years back and I knew that something was going to be off, and then Alexandra Krosney’s character was being played by Amanda Fuller. Which… Wasn’t that bad, actually – Amanda Fuller did well with the character – but at the time, it was the worst thing in my life.”</p><p>“Dude, what is with you and sitcoms?”</p><p>Nicole gave a small, warm laugh. “I watched a lot of sitcoms when I was a kid, and then I just kind of… kept watching them, I guess. They’re calm.”</p><p>“Whatever,” Wynonna said with a snort. “Anyway, I’m heading back to the bus. You coming with?”</p><p>“Nah, I’ll stay outside for a bit,” Nicole answered, not wanting to go back and face a certain guitarist just yet.</p><p>“Suit yourself.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>By the time it was starting to get dark, Waverly was practically beside herself with worry. Nicole’s parents had left and gone back to their own hotel, and Wynonna had checked into her room as soon as the key was available.</p><p>Waverly had chosen to stay in the tour bus, and Shorty was nice enough to keep her company, because she hadn’t seen or heard from Nicole since the morning. Nicole’s stuff was still in the bus, too, as well as Calamity, and Waverly didn’t think she’d leave the ginger feline behind again. Especially not after the story Nicole had told her of how she came to adopt her.</p><p>The sky was getting dark, and her phone predicted rain that night. The thought of Nicole being caught in the rain, alone, still wasn’t as painful as the look on her face after the phone call with Dolls. Waverly hadn’t meant to react that way, it had just felt almost like she was being slapped in the face with emotions that she still didn’t understand, and she just remembered thinking about kissing Nicole for the sake of the audience and advertising, and how it wasn’t so bad of an idea.</p><p>Which was truly ridiculous, because it <em>was</em> a bad idea. A very bad idea. She convinced herself it wasn’t an idea as much as it was a fleeting, curious fancy.</p><p>And then there was the picture that she’d probably spent hours staring at by now. The picture that made so much sense and incited more anger than she knew what to do with.</p><p>At one point, she just couldn’t take it anymore and threw down her laptop, slipped into her shoes, and marched out of the tour bus with a brief statement to Shorty to wait up.</p><p>She found Nicole after nearly half an hour of searching. She was sitting on a bench in the middle of a park in Tallahassee, her head in her hands, completely out of focus. She was really only recognizable by the ends of her auburn hair sticking out from underneath her teal beanie. She must’ve been really out of it, because she didn’t notice when Waverly walked up and sat next to her.</p><p>It was only when Waverly reached out and placed a hand gently on her shoulder that Nicole stirred, jerking back up.</p><p>She looked at Waverly blankly, and then sighed and rubbed at her forehead. “Hey,” she mumbled.</p><p>“Nicole, I’m sorry, I…”</p><p>“No, no, it’s okay.”</p><p>Waverly bit her lip and then reached into the pocket of her skirt, pulling that damn photo out and splaying it across her lap. She stared down at it for too long before taking a deep breath and dropping it only Nicole’s legs. Best to get to the point rather than wait for the rain, after all.</p><p>“Oh,” Nicole said as she saw it, picking it up and rubbing her thumb slowly over the little girl in it.</p><p>Waverly made a small, distressed sound in the back of her throat. “You… You were so small, Nicole. Why were you so small? Why can I see the bones in your arms?” she squeaked out.</p><p>Nicole clenched her jaw so hard that Waverly was convinced she was going to break a tooth or something. Slowly, she began to relax, and when she looked at Waverly again, she was stunned by the absolute intensity she saw in those familiar brown eyes.</p><p>“Waverly,” Nicole said lowly, almost as a warning. “If you ask me a question like that, I’m going to answer it honestly, and you won’t be able to unhear it. Are you sure you want to know?”</p><p>“Please… Tell me,” Waverly begged with a small whimper.</p><p>“Food… Was a luxury, growing up.”</p><p>“Your parents couldn’t afford it?”</p><p>Nicole gave a bitter laugh and shook her head. “No, let me rephrase that. Food was a luxury for <em>me</em>. My parents had three full, healthy meals every day while I only got to eat the scraps they tossed me when they were feeling charitable.”</p><p>Something in Waverly’s chest squeezed painfully tight as all of the fears she’d been seized by all day were confirmed. “They… They didn’t feed you?” she choked back tears.</p><p>“No. I learned how to collect good scraps from garbage cans pretty early.”</p><p>And that did it. The tears began rolling down Waverly’s cheeks, and Nicole felt the inexplicable urge to reach out and comfort her. She didn’t, still unsure of where their friendship was after the awkward conversation with Dolls.</p><p>“Wh-why didn’t anyone notice?”</p><p>“They did,” Nicole assured her past the lump in her throat. “But my parents… They just said I was sickly, and I was so pale, you know, that people believed it. We never spent long enough in one place for anything to be done.”</p><p>“Nicole…” she sobbed.</p><p>With a frustrated growl, Nicole tore her beanie off of her head, twisting it over in her hands. “Look, Waves, I… I’m not so good at talking about this.”</p><p>Waverly was shaking, and she half-extended one hand before hesitating. “Can I…?” was her half-formed question.</p><p>It was one that Nicole had heard before, Waverly’s way of seeking comfort. She nodded and moved to open her arms, but promptly froze when she felt Waverly’s hand cup the back of her head and guide her towards her own shoulder.</p><p>Nicole realized that she’d never been held like that before and, well… She almost started crying, too. Almost.</p><p>Waverly’s shoulder was so soft, and the way that her hand rubbed along Nicole’s back was incredibly soothing. It was hard to talk about her parents’ neglect, but if this was her reward, then Nicole figured she’d have to open up more often. Which sounded perfectly plausible in theory, but she knew she’d choke the next time she tried to talk about her emotions. It had already been such an emotion-filled day, and she couldn’t wait for it to be over. But not the hug.</p><p>Every bone in her body wanted her to wrap her arms around Waverly and bury her head in the crook of her neck, because goddammit, that sounded like such a safe place to be. Her parents and her past couldn’t get to her when she was enveloped in Waverly’s arms. She knew that if she did that, though, she wouldn’t be able to stop, and she didn’t want to get addicted to being held because she went twenty-one years before someone even wanted to hold her.</p><p>So, she pulled back. She pulled back and rubbed furiously under her eyes to keep any possible tears that may have formed away. She sniffled and offered the brunette a wobbly smile.</p><p>“It’s okay, Waves, really,” she croaked out, and then cleared her throat. “I’ve… I’ve come to peace with it over the years. I got myself out of the situation when I was fourteen. I’ve had plenty of time.”</p><p>“Y-you’re okay?” Waverly stammered uncertainly.</p><p>Nicole smiled a bit stronger, and when she nodded, she actually believed it. “Now, come on. It looks like it’s gonna rain soon.”</p><p>As they were walking back to the bus to get their hotel room keys, they were quiet, but it was a comfortable silence. They both agreed, it seemed, not to mention what Dolls had told them earlier, and the aftermath. Nicole’s smile never left her face, and if it were at all possible, she fell just that little bit more in love with her gorgeous, unbelievably sweet, and selfless bandmate.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Hey, Nicole?” Waverly spoke up after a while.</p><p>“Yeah, Waves?”</p><p>“I’m gonna kick your parents’ asses.”</p><p>Nicole laughed and shook her head fondly. “I don’t doubt that, babe. I don’t doubt that one little bit.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Y'all, I am SO sorry that this is so late. This is, like. Near when I usually go to sleep. I also didn't reply to your comments last chapter, and I'm sorry about that, too. But, uh, this chapter is a bit longer than normal, and it contains a lot of stuff that I know many of you have been waiting a while for, so hopefully that makes up for it?</p><p>My family and I volunteer with several cat rescues and on Friday, we took in a litter of two-week-old kittens that had been abandoned by their mother during a huge storm the previous day. Caring for neonatal kittens is a lot of work, and these four little guys have been running us ragged, which, on top of work, left me very little time to write much over the weekend.</p><p>Now... I can't guarantee I'll have chapter fourteen written by next Monday. I'm moving back to college on Saturday, though  classes won't start for a bit. Moving and packing is gonna be one whole mess, so the chances of chapter fourteen being on time are quite low. It's even possible I won't get it up until the 24th, but I promise I'll try to have it sooner than then.</p><p>As always, I appreciate all of you, your comments and kudos, and my beta. I think last chapter is one that I'm just doomed to hate, in spite of all of your wonderfully kind comments about it. I'll see you guys again as soon as possible :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Coming to Blows</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Shitshow shitshow welcome to our shitshow</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Thursday was scheduled to be centered mostly on learning the new Peacemaker song, which neither Wynonna nor Nicole had heard or read before. “I was too anxious about it, so I just sent it straight to Dolls,” Waverly explained while twisting her hands together in the cutest possible way and biting her lower lip. Neither of them were really able to stay mad at her.</p><p>They were currently huddled in a rehearsal room of a recording studio in Tallahassee, looking over the lyrics and sheet music of the song, Find My Way. Nicole noted with a small smile that it was the one she had caught Waverly working on in the tour bus’ bedroom a while back.</p><p>Except it wasn’t that long ago, it was about a week ago. It just felt like it was a long time because so much had happened. Nicole sighed internally. Who knew that performing a high-energy concert almost every night would be so exhausting?</p><p>She absently rubbed at the bandage on her shoulder, knowing that it needed to be changed. She had gotten the torn stitches fixed and had instructions to change the bandaging every day, but she’d have to admit that she hadn’t really kept up with it so far.</p><p>“Is your shoulder bugging you?” Waverly asked, eyeing her injury with that same guilty, sad puppy look that she always wore when they talked about it.</p><p>Nicole forced herself to pull her hand away, folding it under her other one in her lap. “I’m fine,” she insisted, but Waverly didn’t look entirely convinced.</p><p> </p><p>“<em>I’ve never been so unsure</em></p><p>
  <em>Never been this insecure</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Where do I go from here</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Everything used to be so clear.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Wynonna looked up from the lyric sheet after singing the first stanza out loud and sent Waverly a puzzled expression, a small crease forming between her eyebrows. “Waves, are you okay? This seems kind of… I don’t know, angsty? Has Chump not been performing well?”</p><p>With an indignant squeak, Waverly grabbed the nearest notebook and smacked her sister. “This has nothing to do with <em>Champ</em>,” she said with a huff. “Besides, not all of the songs I write are about something in particular. Sometimes, I just think of a good line or two and want to make it into a song.”</p><p>Wynonna shrugged and looked back at the lyric sheet to keep reading.</p><p> </p><p>“<em>I was found but now I’m lost</em></p><p>
  <em>Like I got the two wires crossed</em>
</p><p>
  <em>If there’s no path, I’ll pave my own</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Not afraid to brave the unknown</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>So now I’m living in reverse</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Saying fuck you to the universe</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You won’t break me, not today</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I swear to all I’ll find my way.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“You’re singing too fast, it’s only moderato,” Waverly complained, pulling the sheet away. She lightly began to hum the tune before waving her hand in distress and snapping at Nicole. “Hey, give me a soft rock beat, would you?”</p><p>Nodding, Nicole began tapping her hands on the table, curious to see where Waverly was going with the song. Waverly had stuck to the tradition of not writing the sheet music for the drums, allowing Nicole to experiment with it as she pleased, which was actually somewhat fun. She liked coming up with licks and rhythms for Peacemaker’s other songs, taking only partially from recordings made when Willa was still part of the band.</p><p>Waverly hummed the guitar part and then motioned for Wynonna to pick up on it, which she did after a bit of snapping in her direction, too. Waverly opened her mouth then and began to sing the lyrics at a slower tempo.</p><p>Nicole’s jaw dropped open.</p><p>“Ugh, why’d you stop? I really had that,” Waverly grumbled, shooting her an apathetic look.</p><p>Nicole closed her mouth, cleared her throat, and looked away to hide her blush. “Sorry, I just… I’ve never heard you sing before,” she mumbled.</p><p>And it was true. She hadn’t heard Waverly sing before, so she was floored by just how rich and beautiful Waverly’s singing voice was. She had assumed that Wynonna was the only singer in the family, but she supposed it made sense that someone as radiant, talented, and intelligent as Waverly would be able to do everything. That knowledge and logic still didn’t help how flustered she felt upon hearing her crush’s breathtaking voice as she sang a song about confusion and insecurity, two things that Nicole thought she had known very well in her lifetime.</p><p>“Oh,” was all Waverly said, sporting a blush of her own.</p><p>“Come on, bitches, are we doing this or what?”</p><p>With a resolute nod, Nicole continued the beat she’d established before, Wynonna jumped in with the guitar part, and Waverly started up the song again to demonstrate how she wanted Wynonna to sing it.</p><p>But, <em>god</em>, Waverly’s voice was so mesmerizing. Nicole had braced herself for hearing it again, she swear she had, but she was still taken off guard. She managed to power through with the beat despite the inner turmoil.</p><p>She wanted to hear Waverly sing more. She wanted to hear Waverly sing to <em>her</em>, but of course, that was a silly fantasy. Honestly, Waverly’s voice was better than Wynonna’s, leading Nicole to wonder why Wynonna was the lead singer instead of the younger Earp. She tabled the question for another time, choosing to focus on not swooning at Waverly’s rich voice lest she establish herself as even more of a pathetic, useless lesbian than before.</p><p>
  <em>Get it together, Haught. You know that’s never gonna happen.</em>
</p><p>Still. Didn’t make the wishing stop, and it didn’t wound her heart any less. Suddenly, the gash on her shoulder didn’t seem so bad.</p><p>There was a knock on the door, and whoever was on the other side didn’t even bother to wait for an invitation before opening the door and stepping inside. <em>Of course</em>, Nicole thought as she saw her parents waltz inside like they owned the goddamn place.</p><p>“Hello, darlings! That nice bus driver you have let us know you were here,” her mother chirped happily, swinging her purse at her side. “Sunny, my love, you know I’ve always been interested in your music-making, I wonder why you didn’t tell me.”</p><p>Wynonna snorted, clearly trying to hold back her laughter at ‘Sunny’ again.</p><p>In a matter of seconds, Waverly had tossed the lyric sheet away and shot up out of her seat. Nicole chanced a glance at her, taken aback by the absolute hatred she saw. It wasn’t a look she’d ever seen on the younger Earp’s face before, but she couldn’t truthfully say that it wasn’t doing something entirely inappropriate to her.</p><p>“Get out,” Waverly spat, and suddenly, the mood of the room shifted.</p><p>Nicole’s mother scoffed, “I’m sorry?”</p><p>“No, you’re not. <em>Get out</em>.”</p><p>“Goddamn,” Wynonna said with a low whistle, summing up just about everyone’s feelings in that moment. “Waves, what’s got your knickers in a twist?”</p><p>The stare-off between Waverly and Nicole’s mother persisted, only now, there was something harder in the latter woman’s gaze. “I’m sure you’re mistaken about something,” she insisted.</p><p>“No, I don’t think I am. She told me everything,” Waverly growled.</p><p>Nicole’s father stepped forward, his jaw clenched in rage. “You little bitch,” he snarled as he grabbed Nicole by the front of her shirt and yanked her out of her chair.</p><p>She flailed, feeling like she was a kid again as she scrambled to get away from him. She retreated until her back hit the wall, but he was still advancing, so all she could do was brace herself for impact. The anger was rolling off of him in waves as he grabbed her shoulders and slammed her back into the wall. He raised his fist to deliver a blow to her face, and –</p><p>Got caught off guard by a blow to his own.</p><p>“You stay away from her,” Wynonna spat at him, fist dropping to her side.</p><p>Waverly was grappling with Nicole’s mother, but ran over as soon as she landed a debilitating punch to her gut. “Are you okay?” she fretted, her hands hovering over Nicole but not quite touching her.</p><p>Nicole nodded, wheezing a little and trying to regain her bearings after the small fight that honestly went too fast for her to process. She opened her mouth to reassure Waverly that it was nothing – except maybe another stitch in her shoulder had torn, if the warm wetness dripping down her back was any indication – but then she noticed her mother coming up behind the brunette with determination written in her features.</p><p>And truly, Nicole had never really been violent towards other people. She’d had a lot of childhood anger, sure, but she’d never felt the urge to hit someone like she did now. Unequipped to hold back the pressing urge, she pushed Waverly aside and socked her mother right in the jaw, grinning at the rush of adrenaline that surged through her.</p><p>“Damn, that was overdue,” she laughed.</p><p>“Okay, Wynonna’s confused,” Wynonna said with a raised eyebrow, holding a pocketknife out threateningly towards her parents. “Why are we all fighting? I mean, I’m here for it, but, like, why?”</p><p>Waverly turned to face her while pointing an accusatory finger at the older Haughts. “They <em>starved</em> her, Wynonna. They starved her, and probably hurt her, too!”</p><p>Nicole squirmed uncomfortably. “They didn’t… I mean… Look, Wynonna, it’s fine. I mean. I hate them, but it’s fine.”</p><p>“You bitches,” Wynonna breathed, glaring at Nicole’s parents. “Waverly’s right. Get out.”</p><p>“She’s our daughter, you can’t make us leave,” her mother sneered.</p><p>Nicole raised an eyebrow at the challenge. “I could just get you both sent to jail again if I wanted. It honestly wouldn’t even be that hard. There’s so much evidence, and now I’ve got <em>witnesses</em>. What do you think, <em>dad</em>? Feel like being someone’s bitch again?”</p><p>Her father ground his teeth together before grabbing his wife by the arm and leading her away. “She’s not worth it. Fucking cop,” he huffed as he guided her out.</p><p>“We’ll be back,” her mother cried before leaving completely.</p><p>Now that they were gone, the adrenaline – as well as all of the air in her body – left Nicole in a rush. She fell into the chair, holding her palms to her temple. “Fuck,” she sighed.</p><p>“You okay?” Waverly asked, kneeling next to her.</p><p>Nicole looked up, and a genuine smile spread across her cheeks. “Yeah, Waves. I’m good. That was just… a lot more intense than the last time I got them sent away. Thank you.”</p><p>“It’s not right,” Waverly said, her gentle smile dropping.</p><p>“No, it’s not,” she agreed. “But believe me, I’m fine. Now, anyway.”</p><p>Wynonna suffered the mushiness for a solid fifteen seconds before clapping her hands together and pulling the lyric sheet back towards them. “Alright, dummies, enough of that ooey-gooey talk. Let’s make some goddamn music, eh?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t fair, what Waverly Earp could do to her. Nicole reckoned that she hadn’t ever fallen for anyone before quite the way she’d fallen for this literal goddess. Even her one and only romantic relationship in her life, with the smart, pretty girl in her economics class in high school, had been more about comfort and direction than it was love.</p><p>Nicole didn’t dislike Shae. In fact, she knew that she <em>did</em> love her, but… Well. That wasn’t something she really had to think about anymore, she figured.</p><p>One thing she knew for sure was that relationships were tricky and too often they turned disastrous. It made her wonder why she thought it would be such a lovely idea to be in one with Waverly. Except, she didn’t wonder at all, because that would (hopefully) mean that Waverly loved her, too, and there wasn’t anything greater in the world than being chosen by the most radiant and kind-hearted person you’d ever laid eyes on.</p><p>It was wishful thinking. She knew that. Of course she knew that, but it didn’t keep the memories of having Waverly sleeping against her and hugging her and smiling so big that her eyes turned to crescent moons out of her dreams at night.</p><p>Nicole had never given thought to soulmates before, and she didn’t really believe in true love, not after all of the false love she’d received in her life, but she did know for certain now that her heart would never be able to forget Waverly Earp.</p><p>It was a good thing, playing with Peacemaker, being apart of something so wonderful, actually <em>belonging</em> somewhere. But Nicole was not naïve. She’d had a few trips around the sun. She knew that all good things much eventually reach an end – she just prayed that the end for her Peacemaker career was nowhere near. Not while Waverly Earp still smiled at her like that.</p><p>It was kind of salt in the wound, rubbing over the hole in her bleeding little heart, but Nicole weighed the pros and cons and, well, she was okay with that.</p><p>They’d just returned from their recording session in the morning, only taking about three tries to get a perfect (or so Waverly said) recording of Find My Way. Wynonna had declared they celebrate with ice cream, and then declared that Nicole be the one to get it, so.</p><p>Here she was, standing in line in an ice cream parlor at one in the afternoon, turning everyone’s preferences over and over in her head. Waverly had insisted that this place had vegan ice cream because <em>‘it said so on their menu’</em> and she would accept nothing else. Nicole kind of hated how she was so head over heels for this guitarist, but at the same time, she was the worst and she wouldn’t trade it for the world. The heartache was bearable, anyhow.</p><p>“You’re Nicole Haught from Peacemaker, aren’t you?”</p><p>She startled a little at the voice initially, but quickly calmed down and turned to give the man a charming smile. “I am,” she answered with just a little bit of pride in her voice. It masked the nerves (since, you know, she still wasn’t used to being recognized).</p><p>The man was strange, wearing an oversized fur coat in the middle of summer, but Nicole supposed she had never been one to judge. “You’re a pretty popular band, I hear. My daughter’s obsessed with your music.”</p><p>“I’m glad to hear that. That’s why we do it, for our fans.”</p><p>He hummed and nodded. “Yes, I’d think so. She just recently had her tonsils removed, sending me out on an afternoon ice cream run to soothe her throat.”</p><p>“That’s nice of you,” Nicole’s smile widened. “See, I’m just here for my needy bandmates. Not that I don’t like them, of course. I do. I guess I’m just the low man on the totem pole,” she gave an awkward laugh, trying to recover from her blunder.</p><p>She didn’t know why this man was talking to her, but she really refused to be the reason why she hated celebrities before. She refused to be the type of famous person (though it was still weird to refer to herself as such) who would scoff at the common people, no matter how odd they appeared to be.</p><p>“Actually, the low man on the totem pole, as you say, would be the most prestigious. The statues that could be seen at eye level were arguably the most important.”</p><p>She felt her cheeks go a little pink and she looked away with a small couch. “Sorry. I didn’t know that,” she muttered. “I suppose I’d be the higher statue, then. Out of sight, out of mind.”</p><p>He smiled thinly, making her shift uncomfortably. “Don’t worry, Miss Haught. For many of Peacemaker’s fans, you are not out of mind. In fact, you’re almost more popular than your predecessor.”</p><p>Nicole suppressed a grimace at the mention of Peacemaker’s previous drummer. She hated feeling like she was replacing someone, especially the elder sister of Wynonna and Waverly, even though both of them had expressed, in their own ways, that they were fine with it by now.</p><p>“I wouldn’t know,” she said, though her voice sounded like it was coming from far away. “I wasn’t very interested in Peacemaker before joining.”</p><p>“Ah, so you didn’t even try?” he pressed, stroking his oddly dyed beard.</p><p>“Not really,” she huffed. “I mean, I’ve given the story in interviews. The Earps kind of… sucked me in. I like it, though, I do. It’s just not where I would’ve expected myself, if that makes sense?”</p><p>“Crystal,” he laughed.</p><p>She smiled at him, willing the conversation to be over. While she wasn’t uncomfortable in his presence, she hardly had any idea what they were talking about at this point, and she hated not knowing. One of her biggest pet peeves while growing up was being so mentally behind everyone else in her class.</p><p>Due to her parents’ constant traveling, she missed a lot of school, and certain circumstances didn’t allow her mind to develop quite like it should have, leading to a lifetime of stupidity and frustration for her.</p><p>The way that this man seemed to know everything and yet tell nothing was bothering her, causing the familiar feeling of inadequacy to rise up within her. She swallowed it down, not wanting to cause a scene or give way for anger to enter into her heart.</p><p>“I heard about what happened the other day,” the man said then, startling her again. “What a shame that someone would be indecent enough to do such a thing. Is your shoulder alright?”</p><p>She furrowed her brow and blinked at him a couple of times, and she couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit defensive. “Yeah, it’s good. Just a scratch.”</p><p>He lowered his chin a little, looking up at her almost predatorily. “He was aiming for the older Earp, you know.”</p><p>A chill ran down Nicole’s spine and she uncomfortably crossed her arms over her chest. “I know that,” she retorted.</p><p>“Oh, I didn’t introduce myself, did I?” he realized, pressing a hand to his chest. “How very impolite of me. You can call me Bobo.”</p><p>Nicole felt her body go rigid as the name registered in her brain. She clenched her teeth, feeling a furious heat spread through her chest. “I’ve heard of you,” she growled, fighting the urge to take a step back.</p><p>He smiled, showing his teeth. “Good. It was a pleasure, Miss Haught,” he said, miming tipping a hat before turning around and disappearing through the doors of the ice cream parlor.</p><p>All Nicole could do was glower after him, feeling altogether at a loss for what to do. She clenched and unclenched her jaw several times, her fists in sync.</p><p>“Miss? Miss, may I take your order?”</p><p>She was jolted out of her mind. She huffed, shaking the thoughts from her head and forcing her arms back down to her sides as she made her way up to the counter. <em>Put it aside,</em> she told herself, pushing the encounter with the strange man to the back of her mind and mustering up her best smile for the ice cream employee.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Waverly Earp, as I live and breathe.”</p><p>Waverly’s back immediately straightened and her eyes went wide, a look that made Nicole laugh. She quickly tried to smother it, not wanting to anger the tiny brunette. Waverly Earp shot out of the booth, almost falling to the floor in her haste.</p><p>“Chrissy! Oh my God, it’s been so long!” Waverly squealed, immediately crushing the blonde girl in a hug.</p><p>“Way too long,” Chrissy agreed as she pulled back, her grin huge. She glanced at Nicole and her eyes went wide. “Haught damn,” she said with a low whistle. “Pictures don’t do justice, Miss Haught.”</p><p>In spite of herself, Nicole felt her cheeks turn red. “Th-thanks, I guess, and it’s just Nicole,” she chuckled, but then her jaw dropped open as something registered in her brain. “Wait, you look familiar… Chrissy, as in Chrissy Nedley?”</p><p>Chrissy narrowed her eyes in thought for a second before gasping and snapping her fingers repeatedly. “Yeah! Yeah! I remember you! See, I thought you seemed familiar, too.”</p><p>Waverly shifted uncomfortably, crossing her arms over her chest. She glanced between the two of them anxiously and huffed. “I wasn’t aware you two know each other,” she said in a strained voice.</p><p>“Not really. I knew her father – he, uh, he was my high school coach.”</p><p>“Remember junior year, Waves? When I said I was going to reconnect with my father in the States over the summer?” Chrissy asked, her eyes bright. “He had this scrappy sixteen year-old shooting hoops in his driveway when I got there. Made me think I had the wrong house.”</p><p>Nicole rolled her eyes and grinned at Waverly. “He was a good friend and mentor. He helped me get out of a tough situation, and he’s ultimately the reason I stayed in Tucson,” she explained. “I still talk to him sometimes.”</p><p>“You crazy bitch,” Chrissy said, though there was no insult in her tone. “I’m one of Peacemaker’s marketing agents. Small world, huh? How have you been?”</p><p>“I’ve been good, I guess. Ups and downs, but…” Nicole glanced towards Waverly and her smile widened. “Anyway, I think I’ll leave you two to catching up. See you later, okay, Waves?” she leaned over and placed a small, chaste kiss on Waverly’s forehead, grabbing her hands and giving them a quick squeeze before gathering her sandwich in its paper packaging and walking out of the sandwich shop.</p><p>Waverly was left dumbstruck, her face burning. “Bye,” she gave a small giggle, not able to stop herself from watching Nicole as she left.</p><p>Chrissy gasped again, her hands coming to cover her mouth. “Holy frickin’ shit, Waverly,” she whispered.</p><p>There was still a starstruck smile on Waverly’s face when she looked back at her childhood friend, and she had to put in actual effort to force it down. “What?” she questioned, cocking her head to the side as they sat down again, Chrissy taking Nicole’s old spot.</p><p>Waverly had the fleeting thought that she’d prefer talking to Nicole over her best friend of a decade, but it was silly, so she chose to cast it aside and ignore it.</p><p>Chrissy was wearing a shit-eating grin as she leaned on her elbows. “So, how long have you been in love with her?”</p><p>There was a second when the words didn’t quite compute in Waverly’s brain. She blinked in confusion, trying to decipher what it was her best friend had just said. But then it registered, and she felt her eyes bug out of her head, and her throat constricted painfully, causing her to choke.</p><p>(Some could even say that Dumb Gay Bitch Syndrome was fatal and Waverly was an undiagnosed victim, but that was neither here nor there.)</p><p>Waverly banged on her chest, attempting to glare at Chrissy, who was laughing. It was ineffective, she found, to glare through the tears that sprang to her eyes at her lack of oxygen. “I’m sorry, <em>what</em>?” she spluttered, her voice high and tight.</p><p>“Oh come on, Waves, you’re totally into her!” Chrissy insisted, shaking a hand in excitement. “How can you not see it?”</p><p>“I am <em>not</em> into her!”</p><p>Chrissy threw her head back in another laugh, banging the table as if it were the funniest thing she’d ever heard.</p><p>Waverly felt herself blushing <em>again</em> and she drew into herself, crossing her arms tightly over her chest again. “I’m not!” she argued weakly, her face on fire.</p><p>And then there was that look on Chrissy’s face – that same, almost pitying look that she wore when Waverly announced that Peacemaker would be taking Champ on as a roadie. She hated that look. It didn’t look right on her best friend’s face, and it was the one thing she could never figure out how to respond to. It also wasn’t one that Chrissy wore often, so its appearance made her uneasy, because a solid seventy percent of the time, Chrissy was right.</p><p>But she couldn’t… She couldn’t be in love with Nicole, right?</p><p>“I’m not,” she huffed. “I mean… She… She’s pretty, of course – she’s gorgeous! – but you can think that about a friend. Like, I think you’re gorgeous, Chrissy, but it doesn’t mean I want to jump your bones,” she reasoned, feeling a swell of pride in her chest at herself for navigating the tricky conversation so well.</p><p>But then, of course, she had to open her big, stupid mouth and keep going.</p><p>“And I mean, I admire Nicole’s strength or bravery or whatever, she’s been through a lot, but I admire her as a friend would. And yeah, she’s kind of attractive when she’s sweaty or when she just worked out, but who isn’t? Working out is hot, and she’s kinda ripped, so can you blame me?”</p><p>Oh no. Oh no. Conversation spiraling out of control, look on Chrissy’s face intensifying. Must regain control.</p><p>“I mean… Sure, sometimes my heart skips a beat or something when she smiles at me with those dimples and those radiant eyes, and I can feel sparks when we touch, and she’s so very warm all the time and sometimes I just want to hug her for hours, and sure, you could say sometimes I think about how her lips would feel, but I’m just being curious, right? That doesn’t mean – “</p><p>She cut herself off abruptly when it felt like her heart was about to beat right out of her chest. There was a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she wasn’t sure if her word vomit was worse than actual vomit because, well… Everything clicked, and she couldn’t help the small bit of disdain she felt for the ugly, wretched, wicked, beautiful truth.</p><p>“I’m in love with Nicole,” she whispered reverently, staring at a far-off spot on the wall.</p><p>All of her anguish and pain over the past couple of weeks, all of the feelings she was unequipped to understand or deal with, suddenly made perfect sense. She hadn’t ever had a crush before, not since Champ, and that felt more like a thing of convenience compared to what she felt for Nicole. For how warm and fluttery Nicole made her feel inside. In spite of herself, she smiled, thinking <em>yes, this finally makes sense</em>.</p><p>But then, the next moment, it all came crashing down on her again. “Chrissy!” she cried once she was verbal again. “Why didn’t you <em>tell</em> me?”</p><p>Chrissy laughed and held her hands up in defense. “Hey, don’t shoot the middleman. It’s not my fault you didn’t realize before.”</p><p>Waverly groaned and let her head hit the table. “I don’t even know what to <em>do</em> now, Chrissy… I just… Holy shit. Goddamned fucking ass shit.”</p><p>“You’re not happy about it?”</p><p>“I don’t know!” she exclaimed, her head bolding upright. “I don’t know, Chris. It’s just… It’s so complicated. I can’t deal with this. I…” her mood shifted again and she let out a small, breathy laugh. “I’m in love with Nicole… Well. I suppose that’s something.”</p><p>She sighed and looked down at her sandwich, the damn thing reminding her way too much of a particular redheaded drummer. She found that she wasn’t really that hungry anymore.</p><p>“It’s something…”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I really, really wanted to post this earlier, guys, but I'm so glad I didn't, because I think we all need this after last night's fucking episode. I'm not going to spoil anything for our international readers who haven't been able to watch it, but... Uh. I am certainly not okay, so I'm assuming some of you aren't?</p><p>Mvphoenix was working when the episode aired so of course I texted her and spoiled the ending because she spoiled the whole show for me (not kidding lmao, not mad though). And our conversation transpired as such:</p><p>Mvphoenix: I'm sorry what<br/>Me: Did I fucking stutter<br/>Mvphoenix: God I hope so</p><p>Anyway. Enough ranting about last night's episode. Thank you all for being so patient with me with this chapter! Taking a week off worked wonders, and I'm actually ahead on next chapter now. I hope the ending of this chapter (and the fact that it's so much longer than normal chapters) makes up for it.</p><p>Real quick, I've got nothing planned today so I'm gonna try to whip up some fluffy Wayhaught to post separately of Chasing You (because god knows we all need it), so keep an eye out!</p><p>As always, I love and appreciate all of the comments and kudos. Keep it up, loves! See you next Monday :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>